HEROES  OF  THE  REFORMATION 

v  v 


LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF 
CALIFORNIA 

SAN  OIEGO 


FROM  AMONO  THE  BOOKS 
OF    *.  W.  ROEN1O 


LUTHER. 

AFTEH  A  PAINTING  BY  CRANACH. 


Frontispiece. 


THE  HERO  OF  THE  REFORMATION 
1483-1546 


BY 
HENRY  EYSTER  JACOBS 

DEAN   AND    PROFESSOR   OF   SYSTEMATIC   THEOLOGVf  EVANGELICAL   LUTHERAN 

SEMINARY,    PHILADELPHIA,    PA. 

AUTHOR   OF  "  THE    LUTHERAN    MOVEMENT   IN    ENGLAND    DURING   THE    REIGNS   OF 

HENRY  VIII.  AND   EDWARD   VI.,    AND   ITS   LITERARY   MONUMENTS"  J 

"A   HISTORY   OF   THE    EVANGELICAL   LUTHERAN    CHURCH 

IN  THE   UNITED   STATES" 


SEVENTH    IMPRESSION 


G.  P. -PUTNAM'S  SONS 
NEW  YORK  AND  LONDON 

•Knickerbocker  press 

1909 


COPYRIGHT,  1898 

BY 
G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS 

Entered  at  Stationers1  Hall,  London 


Ube  Knickerbocker  press,  Hew  fiorfe 


PREFACE 

IN  preparing  this  outline,  the  chief  difficulty  has 
been  to  select  and  condense  the  material.  The 
aim  has  been  to  follow  the  growth  of  Luther  into 
the  position  which  has  given  him  his  fame,  and 
to  describe  that  position  with  fairness.  I  have 
drawn  chiefly  from  the  letters  and  works  of  Luther 
and  Melanchthon,  and  collections  of  documents  in 
Loscher,  Gerdesius,  and  Seckendorf,  but  have  util- 
ised also  all  other  available  sources  of  information 
and  aids  in  classifying  material,  particularly  the 
scientific  biographies  of  Julius  Kostlin '  and  Th. 
Kolde,1  the  admirable  sketch  of  Karl  Burk,'  and  the 
still  more  extensive  popular  work  of  Martin  Rade.4 

1  Martin  Luther,  Sein  Leben  und  seine  Schriften,  2  vols.  ;  vol.  i., 
p.  811  ;  vol.  ii.,  p.  679.  Elberfeld,  1875. 

*  Martin  Luther ;  Eine  Biographie,  2  vols.  ;  vol.  i.,  p.  396.  Gotha, 
1884.  Vol.  ii.,  p.  626.  Gotha,  1893. 

3  Martin  Luther,  p.  343.     Stuttgart,  1883. 

4  Doktor  Martin  Luther's  Leben,    Thaten,  und  Mcinungen,  auf 


iv  Preface 

Particular  acknowledgments  are  due  the  editor  of 
this  series,  the  Rev.  Samuel  Macauley  Jackson, 
D.D.,  LL.D.,  for  many  valuable  suggestions ;  to  my 
colleague,  the  Rev.  Adolph  Spaeth,  D.D.,  LL.D., 
a  lifelong  student  and  expounder  of  Luther's  writ- 
ings, for  constant  advice  and  numberless  favours; 
and  to  Julius  F.  Sachse,  the  author  of  The  History 
of  the  German  Pietists  in  Pennsylvania,  for  import- 
ant aid  in  the  selection  and  preparation  of  illustra- 
tions. The  apparatus  collected  by  my  predecessor 
in  this  seminary,  Rev.  Charles  Porterfield  Krauth, 
D.D.,  LL.D.,  for  an  exhaustive  scientific  presenta- 
tion of  Luther's  life  from  an  American  standpoint, 
upon  which  he  was  engaged  at  the  time  of  his  death 
in  January,  1883,  has  been  constantly  at  hand  and 
gratefully  used. 

HENRY  EYSTER  JACOBS. 


LUTHERAN  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY, 
PHILADELPHIA,  PA.,  April  27, 


Grund  reichlicher  Mittheilungen  aus  seinen  Brief  en  und  Schriften 
dem  Volke  erzahlt  -von  Lie.  theol.  Martin  Rade  (Paul  Martin),  3 
vols.  ;  vol.  i.,  p.  772  ;  vol.  ii.,  p.  746  ;  vol.  iii.,  p.  718.  Neusalza, 
1887. 


KEY  TO  THE  CHIEF  REFERENCES. 

ERLANGEN=  Edition  of  Luther 's  Works,  published 
at  Erlangen,  originally  edited  by  J.  G.  Ploch- 
mann  and  J.  K.  Irmischer.  German  treatises, 
1826-57,  67  vols;  Latin  treatises,  1829-86,  38 
vols. 

ERLANGEN  "= Reissue  of  first  20  vols.  of  the  Ger- 
man treatises  in  the  above  edition.  Frankfort, 
1862-86. 

WALCH  =  Edition  of  Luther's  Works,  published  at 
Halle,  edited  by  J.  G.  Walch.  1740-50,  24 
parts. 

WEIMAR=  Edition  of  Luther  s  Works,  in  process  of 
publication  under  patronage  of  the  German 
Emperor,  edited  by  J.  C.  F.  Knaake  and  others. 
1883  S44- 

OP.  EX.  =  Erlangen  edition  of  Luther's  Latin  ex- 
egetical  works. 

OP.  VAR.  ARG.  =  Erlangen  edition  of  Luther's  Latin 
works  pertaining  to  the  history  of  the  Refor- 
mation. 

DE  WETTE= Luther's  Letters,  edited  by  W.  M.  L. 
De  Wette  and  J.  K.  Seidemann.  Berlin,  1825- 
56,  6  parts. 

C.  R.  =  Corpus  Re formatorum,  vols.  1-28,  containing 
Melanchthon's  works  edited  by  Bretschneider 
and  Bindseil,  Halle,  1832-50, 


CONTENTS 


BOOK  I. 

PAOfl 

THE  MONK  (1483-1517). 

CHAPTER  I. 
BIRTH    AND   CHILDHOOD 3 

CHAPTER  II. 
STUDENT    LIFE  .  .  .  .   '        .  .  14 

CHAPTER  III. 
IN    THE   CLOISTER 22 

CHAPTER  IV. 
THE  PROFESSOR 33 

BOOK  II. 

THE  PROTESTANT  (1517-1522). 
CHAPTER  I. 

THE     SALE      OF     INDULGENCES  ;       AND      THE      XCV. 

THESES 59 


viii  Contents 

PAGE 

CHAPTER  II. 

THE    RECEPTION    OF     THE    THESES     AND    THE    HEI- 
DELBERG   CONFERENCE       .....         77 

CHAPTER  III. 
ECK,  PRIERIAS,  AND  THE  POPE  ....  89 

CHAPTER  IV. 
BEFORE  CAJETAN  AT  AUGSBURG  ....  107 

CHAPTER  V. 
MILTITZ  AND  THE  LEIPZIG  DISPUTATION  .  .  I2O 

CHAPTER  VI. 

POLITICAL     COMPLICATIONS  ;      NEW      ALLIES  J      THE 

THREE   GREAT    TREATISES   OF    1520  .  .  .       149 

CHAPTER  VII. 
THE  BULL  .  .  ...  .  .  .  l68 

CHAPTER  VIII. 
THE  DIET  OF  WORMS 179 

CHAPTER  IX. 
AT  THE  WARTBURG 198 

BOOK  III. 

THE  REFORMER  (1522-1546). 

CHAPTER  I. 
CARLSTADT  AND  THE  ZWICKAU  PROPHETS  .  .  211 

CHAPTER  II. 
REBUILDING  2l8 


Contents  ix 

PAGE 

CHAPTER  III. 
THE    LINES   DRAWN  .  .  .  .  .  .       235 

CHAPTER  IV. 

THE  PEASANTS'  WAR      .        .        .        .        .      ..251 

CHAPTER  V. 

MARRIAGE "  263 

CHAPTER  VI. 
VISITATION    OF   CHURCHES   AND    THE   CATECHISMS   .       268 

CHAPTER  VII. 
ZWINGLI    AND    THE   MARBURG    COLLOQUY  .  .       278 

CHAPTER  VIII. 
COBURG    AND    AUGSBURG 29! 

CHAPTER  IX. 

THE   SCHMALKALD    LEAGUE    AND    THE    STRUGGLES 

WITH    ROME    AND    FANATICISM  .  .  .      303 

CHAPTER  X. 

VERGERIUS  ;      THE     WITTENBERG      CONCORD  ;      AND 

THE   SCHMALKALD    ARTICLES     .  .  .      314 

CHAPTER  XI. 
NEW    TRIUMPHS    AND    TRIALS 323 

CHAPTER  XII. 

THE    LANDGRAVE    OF    HESSE 331 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

DIET     OF     RATISBON  ;     CONTROVERSIES     WITH     THE 

JURISTS,    EMPEROR,    AND    POPE  .  .  .      338 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

LUTHER'S  THEOLOGY       ....  .  347 

CHAPTER  XV. 

HOME    LIFE    AND    LAST    DAYS  .  395 

APPENDIX   I.      ......  .  4*3 

APPENDIX   II 436 

INDEX  444 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


PACK 

MARTIN  LUTHER      .        ...  .    1  .        *,        .         Frontispiece 
After  a  painting  by  Cranach. 

EISLEBEN  IN  LUTHER'S  TIME  .....  3 

AUTOGRAPH  OF  REUCHLIN 13 

EISENACH  IN  LUTHER'S  TIME 14 

MEDAL  DESIGNED  BY  LUTHER*S  COLLEAGUE,  DR. 

JUSTUS  JONAS  . 22 

BUILDING  OF  THE  CISTERCIAN  MONASTERY,  SCHONAU, 

NEAR  HEIDELBERG      ......         24 

From  a  German  MS.  of  the  XVIth  century. 

DR.  STAUPITZ  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  -3° 

After  a  contemporary  oil  painting  in  the  Augus- 
tinian  monastery  at  Salzburg. 

UNIVERSITY  OF  ERFURT     ....  .'          .         32 

WITTENBERG  IN  LUTHER*S  TIME  33 

JOHANNES   COCHLAUS,    EOBANUS   HESSUS,    JOHANNES 
REUCHLINUS,       HANS      SACHS,       AND       CONRAD 

CELTES 44 

From    engraving    in     Kreussler's    Andenken    in 
Mtinzen. 


xii  Illustrations 

PAGE 

DESIDERIUS  ERASMUS 52 

From  a  copper  engraving  by  Albrecht  Dlirer. 

LUTHER  AS  ELIAS  (MAL.  IV.,  5)  (MEDAL).  .  .         59 

LEO  X. 64 

After  the  picture  by  Raphael  in  the  Pitti  Gallery, 
Florence. 

DESIDERIUS  ERASMUS  (MEDAL)  .  .  .  •         77 

JOHN  BRENTZ 86 

From  an  old  engraving. 

HUS  AND  LUTHER  (MEDALS)      .....         89 
TITLE-PAGE   OF    FIRST   EDITION    OF    "  EPISTOL-iE   OB- 

SCURORUM   VIRORUM  " 96 

PHILIP  MELANCHTHON 106 

From   Melanchthon's  funeral  oration  on  Luther, 
1546. 

MEDAL  COMMEMORATING  LUTHER'S  BIRTH          .  .       107 

PHILIP  MELANCHTHON  (MEDAL)          .  .  .  .       I2O 

DR.  JOHN  ECK .128 

Traditional  portrait. 

TITLE-PAGE  OF  ECK'S  "  LEIPZIG  ARTICLES  "      .  .      138 

MARTIN  LUTHER 142 

From    the    title-page  of    Luther's   treatise,    The 
Babylonian  Captivity  of  the  Church,  1520. 

LUTHER'S  SEAL 149 

FREDERICK  THE  WISE,  ELECTOR  OF  SAXONY     .         .150 
From  a  painting  by  Albrecht  Dlirer,  1524. 

ULRICH  VON  HUTTEN 154 

From  a  contemporary  wood-cut. 

TITLE-PAGE   OF    FIRST    EDITION  OF   LUTHER'S   "AD- 
DRESS TO  THE  GERMAN  NOBILITY,"   1520  .  .       l6o 

LUTHER  AS  SAMSON.       A  LEIPZIG  MEDAL  OF  1617        .       1 68 


Illustrations  xiii 

PAGE 

LUTHER  BURNING  THE  PAPAL  BULL  .  .  .       176 

After  a  drawing  by  E.  Lessing. 

MEDAL  COMMEMORATING  LUTHER  AT  WORMS  .     -   179 
EMPEROR  CHARLES  V.    .          .     .     .     .   1 88 

From  an  engraving  by  Bartel  Beham,  1531. 

ARREST  OF  LUTHER  BY  HIS  FRIENDS  WHEN  RETURN- 
ING FROM  THE  DIET  OF  WORMS         .        .        .198 
LUTHER  AS  A  KNIGHT  (MEDAL)       .        .        .        .     198 
MELANCHTHON'S  COAT  OF  ARMS       .  .        .     208 

From  Gretser's  De  Sancta  Cruce. 

FACSIMILE   LETTER  OF  MARTIN    LUTHER  TO   PASTOR 

LESTURUS,    1524 2IO 

Decision  concerning  a  matrimonial  question. 
(Original  in  collection  of  Mr.  Frederick 
Dreer,  Philadelphia.) 

ELECTOR  JOHN  OF  SAXONY  (MEDAL)         .        .        .     211 

DR.  JOHN  BUGENHAGEN  .         .         .  .         .     2l8 

From  an  engraving  by  Cranach,  1543. 

LUTHER  AND  MELANCHTHON   (MEDAL)       .  .  .  2l8 

FRANZ  VON  SICKINGEN 230 

LUTHER  AS  A  TEACHER  (MEDAL)        .  .  .•  -        .  235 

DR.   MARTIN  BUCER 244 

JOHN  FREDERICK  OF  SAXONY  (MEDAL)       .  .  256 

LUTHER  AND  CATHERINE,    1538  (MEDAL)  .  .  263 

CATHERINE  VON  BORA 264 

From  a  painting  by  Cranach  in  Nuremberg. 

DR.   FREDERICK  MYCONIUS  (MEDAL)  .  .  .       268 

LUCAS  CRANACH 274 

From  his  own  painting. 

ULRIC    ZWINGLI.      A    MEMORIAL    OF    HIS    DEATH 

(MEDAL) 278 

THE  ELECTOR  JOHN  FREDERICK  OF  SAXONY     .         .     284 
After  the  copper  engraving  by  G.  Pencz,  1543. 


xiv  Illustrations 

PAGE 

KASPAR  CRUCIGER .       286 

From  a  wood-cut  by  Tobias  Stimmer. 

LUTHER'S  COAT  OF  ARMS  (MEDAL)  ....     291 

TITLE-PAGE  OF  ECK?S  404  THESES  CIRCULATED  AT 
AUGSBURG,  TO  WHICH  THE  AUGSBURG  CON- 
FESSION IS  IN  PART  A  REPLY  ....  294 

MUSIC  COMPOSED  BY  LUTHER  FOR  HIS  GREAT  RE- 
FORMATION HYMN 302 

LUTHER  IN  1537  (MEDAL)        .        .        .        .        .     303 

FERDINAND  I. 304 

From  an  engraving  by  Beham. 
MARTIN  BUCER  (MEDAL)  .  ...      314 

CARDINAL  VERGERIUS        .     , 314 

From  an  engraving  by  Hendrik  Hondius. 

DUKE  HENRY  OF  SAXONY  (MEDAL)    ....      323 

DUKE  ALBERT  OF  PRUSSIA 328 

From  an  old  engraving. 

LUTHER  AT  SIXTY  (MEDAL) 331 

DR.  PAUL  LUTHER  (MEDAL) 331 

CHARLES  V.   AND  FERDINAND  (MEDAL)       .  .  .       338 

DUKE   MORITZ  OF  SAXONY 338 

From  a  painting  by  Cranach  the  Younger. 

PORTRAITS  OF  CONRAD  WIMPINA,  ANDREAS  MUSCU- 
LUS,  JOHANN  AGRICOLA,  AND  HIERONYMUS 
SCHURF 342 

From    engraving    in     Kreussler's    Andenken    in 
Munzen. 

THE  CENTRE  OF  LUTHER'S  THEOLOGY  (MEDAL)  .      347 

MARTIN  LUTHER 382 

From   Melanchthon's   funeral  oration  on  Luther, 
1546. 


Illustrations  xv 

PAGE 

JUSTUS  JONAS 390 

After  a  portrait  by  L.  Cranach,  Genealogy,  1543. 

COMMEMORATING  THE  DEFEAT  OF  JOHN  FREDERICK, 

APRIL  24,  1547  (MEDAL)  .  .  395 

THE  LORD'S  SUPPER  (A  MEDAL  OF  1546)  .  .  395 

DR.  JOHN  MATTHESIUS 398 

From  a  wood-cut  by  Tobias  Stimmer. 

MEDAL  OF  LUTHER .      411 

From  Gretser's  De  Sancta  Cruce. 

LUDWIG      VON     SECKENDORF,     THE     HISTORIAN     OF 

THE  REFORMATION 428 

From  an  engraving  by  Heinzelmann. 

DUKE  ERNEST  THE  PIOUS,  CHAMPION  OF  THE  LUTH- 
ERAN CAUSE  IN  THE  THIRTY  YEARS*   WAR  .      442 
From  an  engraving  by  Jacob  Sandrart. 


The  headpieces  to  the  chapters  are,  with  two  exceptions,  from  the 
Vita  D.  Martini  Lutheri  numtnis  atqtte  iconibus  illustrata,  studio 
M.  Christiani  Juncker,  Franckfort  and  Leipzig,  1699,  containing 
137  illustrations  of  medals  commemorative  of  Luther  and  the  Reform- 
ation. The  headpieces  to  Chapters  II  and  IV  of  Book  I  are  from 
Dr.  Martin  Luvher's  Andenken  in  Miinzen  von  M.  Heinrich  Gottlieb 
Kreussler,  Leipzig,  1818,  in  which,  with  illustrations  of  195  medals, 
are  found  these  and  several  others  reproduced  in  this  volume. 


BOOK  I 
THE  MONK 

1483-1517 


EISLEBEN  IN  LUTHER'S  TIME. 

CHAPTER  I 

BIRTH  AND  CHILDHOOD 

WHATEVER  may  have  been  its  defects  and 
abuses,  a  genuine  religious  life  deeply  per- 
vaded the  German  people  during  the  Middle  Ages. 
The  great  movement  known  as  the  Reformation 
was  not  the  introduction  from  without  of  a  new 
principle  doing  violence  to  the  matured  product  of 
forces  nurtured  throughout  its  entire  existence 
within  the  Mediaeval  Church.  Within  great  institu- 
tions, as  well  as  within  the  minds  of  individuals, 
principles  often  coexist  in  apparent  peace,  that  need 
only  to  be  earnestly  applied  and  to  be  carried  to 
their  necessary  conclusions,  in  order  to  be  found 
antagonistic.  The  break  comes  when  adherents, 
hitherto  dwelling  in  one  camp,  divide  according  to 
their  convictions  of  the  truth  or  the  error  of  the  one 
or  the  other  principle  which  both  have  thus  far  con- 
fessed in  common.  Luther  was  a  true  son  of  the 
Church.  His  spiritual  life  had  been  enkindled  and 

3 


4  Martin  Luther  [1483- 

nurtured  from  the  Church's  ministration  of  word 
and  sacrament.  Devout  parents  had  trained  him 
from  childhood  in  the  fear  of  God.  His  earlier 
school-days  afforded  him  at  least  some  truth  for  the 
faith  of  his  heart  to  grasp.  The  daily  services  to 
which  he  was  accustomed  long  before  he  found 
the  Bible  at  Erfurt,  familiarised  him  with  much 
of  the  saving  word  of  God.  All  through  his  uni- 
versity career,  to  the  decisive  moment  when  he 
retired  from  the  world  and  became  a  monk,  and 
then  again,  as  within  the  monastery  he  fought  over 
in  his  own  heart  the  battles  he  was  afterwards  to 
fight  without,  his  struggle  towards  the  light  was  the 
necessary  result  of  his  honest  belief  of  much  that 
the  Church  had  taught  him,  and  of  the  constraint 
of  conscience  that  impelled  him  to  be  true  to  his 
convictions.  Luther  is  to  be  regarded,  not  as  the 
founder  of  a  new  Church,  or  as  the  leader  of  a  new 
school  of  Church  life  and  thought,  so  much  as  the 
representative  and  heir  of  all  that  was  noblest  and 
best  in  mediaeval  Christianity;  and  as  the  pioneer 
of  a  new  order  of  things  only  in  so  far  as  he  fear- 
lessly carried  to  their  conclusions  the  premises  that 
others  were  either  unable  or  unwilling  to  apply. 

As  often  happens  with  those  who  have  attained  a 
world-wide  distinction,  there  have  been  writers  who 
have  claimed  for  Luther  noble  ancestry.  This 
claim  he  himself  silenced  in  the  words:  "I  am  a 
peasant's  son.  My  father,  grandfather,  and  ances- 
tors were  all  peasants."  '  According  to  general 

1  Walch's  Halle  edition  of  Luther's  works  (subsequently  referred 
to  as  Walch),  xxii.,  55. 


Childhood 


agreement,  the  name  is  properly  the  personal  name 
"  Lothar,"  which,  in  course  of  time,  became  the 
family  name,  Luther. 

The  home  of  the  Luther  family,  which  is  still 
that  of  some  of  its  descendants,  was  on  the  western 
slope  of  the  Thuringian  forest,  at  the  small  village 
of  Mohra,  a  dry  and  treeless  hamlet,  containing  at 
that  time  about  fifty  families.  Henry,  the  grand- 
father of  Martin  Luther,  owned  considerable  prop- 
erty ;  and  the  entire  family  at  Mohra,  during  the  life 
of  their  great  representative,  seems  to  have  been  in 
relatively  comfortable  circumstances,  owning,  as 
was  usual  among  their  neighbours,  the  farms  which 
they  tilled,  and  the  houses  in  which  they  lived. 
Here  Luther's  grandmother  lived  until  1522.  It 
was  from  the  house  of  his  uncle,  with  whom  she 
was  making  her  home,  that  Luther  went  forth  on 
the  morning  of  that  memorable  day  in  May,  1521, 
when,  upon  his  way  from  the  Diet  of  Worms,  he 
was  arrested  and  carried  to  the  Wartburg.  Two 
brothers  of  his  father,  eminently  respectable  men, 
who  had  the  high  esteem  of  their  nephew,  appear 
again  and  again,  until  a  late  period  in  Luther's  life, 
and  thus  render  the  inference  highly  probable  that 
John,  the  father  of  Martin,  was  the  eldest  son. 

Much  conjecture  has  been  spent  upon  the  ques- 
tion, as  to  what  took  John  Luther  and  his  wife  to 
Eisleben,  about  eighty  miles  northeast  of  Mohra, 
where,  during  a  brief  stay,  their  son,  Martin,  was 
born,  November  10,  1483.  Who  can  believe  that, 
with  the  primitive  mode  of  travelling  then  in  use, 
and  at  a  time  so  critical  for  the  wife  and  mother, 


6  Martin  Luther  [1483^ 

the  young  couple  could  have  gone  thither  either 
for  attendance  on  the  fair,  or  for  purchases  ?  '  If,  ac- 
cording to  a  widely  circulated  report,  for  which  no 
evidence  exists,  however,  John  Luther  had  actually 
slain  a  man  with  whom  he  had  had  an  altercation, 
the  fact  that  he  remained  within  the  territory  of  the 
Elector  of  Saxony  shows  that  he  was  no  fugitive 
from  justice,  while  the  position  of  honour  to  which 
he  was  elevated  afterwards  by  his  fellow-citizens  in 
Mansfeld,  removes  any  stigma  which  an  accidental 
or  justifiable  homicide  may  have  entailed.  On  the 
contrary,  we  may  well  believe  that  John  Luther, 
realising  that  not  all  the  children  could  be  supported 
from  the  estate  at  Mohra,  left  his  younger  brothers 
with  their  mother  in  the  possession  at  least  of  the 
family  home,  while  he  went  forth  to  search  for 
another  field  of  labour  and  means  of  livelihood.  In 
the  hills  around  Mohra,  he  had  learned  the  art  of 
mining  copper,  and  adopted  it  as  his  trade.  The 
neighbourhood  of  Eisleben,  like  that  of  Mansfeld, 
which  was  only  a  few  miles  distant,  abounded  in 
copper-mines.  When  the  child  was  only  six  months 
old,  his  parents  removed  from  Eisleben  to  Mans- 
feld ;  so  that  the  latter,  and  not  his  birthplace,  was 
known  as  the  home  of  his  childhood.  Of  both 
parents,  as  they  appeared  in  later  days,  on  their 
visits  to  Wittenberg,  cotemporaries  have  left  de- 
scriptions. The  portraits  painted  by  Lucas  Cranach 
in  1527  perpetuate  their  faces.  Both  were  of  dark 
complexion,  and  less  than  medium  stature.  In  the 
features  of  the  father,  determination,  honesty,  com- 
mon sense,  and  thrift  are  clearly  traceable.  He 


Childhood 


would  be  taken  for  a  thoroughly  practical  man,  who 
has  struggled  upwards,  through  severe  hardship,  to 
an  honourable  position,  in  which  he  has  found  his 
highest  ambition  realised.  From  a  workman  he  had 
risen,  not  indeed  to  wealth,  but  to  joint  proprietor- 
ship in  mines  and  furnaces,  membership  in  the 
town  council,  and  such  esteem  from  his  rulers,  the 
Counts  of  Mansfeld,  that  his  son  could  afterwards 
appeal  to  them  for  a  testimony  to  his  father's  char- 
acter. Between  the  mother,  whose  maiden  name 
was  Margaretha  Ziegler  (not  Lindemann,  as  often 
given),  and  son,  the  resemblance  was  said  to  have 
been  far  more  striking  than  between  father  and  son. 
Earnest,  devout,  and  strict,  the  religious  character 
of  the  mother  had  much  to  do  with  that  of  her 
son,  though  her  anxiety  for  the  highest  welfare  of 
her  child  sometimes  led  her  imperfectly  educated 
conscience  to  unjustifiable  severity  in  dealing  with 
his  faults.  Coming,  as  Melanchthon  reports,  from 
an  ancient  and  honourable  family  of  Eisenach,  her 
face  wears  the  shadow  of  the  struggles  of  her  early 
married  life  with  poverty,  when  she  carried  upon  her 
back  from  the  forest  the  supply  of  wood  needed  for 
the  family  fires. 

Upon  the  testimony  of  his  brother  James,  the  year 
1483  is  assigned  as  the  year  of  Martin  Luther's  birth  ; 
the  parents,  in  later  life,  not  being  certain,  and  he 
himself  caring  little  for  the  preservation  of  such  per- 
sonal matters.  But  the  day  and  hour,  November 
loth,  between  eleven  and  twelve  P.M.,  were  never 
forgotten  by  his  mother.  Baptised  the  next  day  in 
St.  Peter's  Church,  where  the  font  of  his  baptism 


8  Martin  Luther  [i483- 

may  still  be  seen,  he  received  the  name  of  the  saint 
commemorated  on  that  day  in  the  calendar. 

His  reminiscences  of  his  childhood  were  not  those 
of  sunshine  and  rainbows  and  joyful  sports  and  the 
delight  of  parents  in  the  pleasure  and  playfulness  of 
their  children.  With  all  his  love  for  them,  and  his 
appreciation  of  the  efforts  they  made  to  do  the  very 
best  for  his  welfare,  he  regretted  the  harshness  and 
severity  which  clouded  the  memory  of  his  early 
years.  Their  love  for  their  children  expressed  itself 
in  the  strictness  with  which  they  exacted  the  per- 
formance of  the  utmost  detail  of  every  duty,  and 
the  excessive  punishment  that  was  sure  to  follow 
the  detection  of  the  most  trifling  offence.  Under 
the  law  themselves,  the  fear  of  punishment  and  the 
hope  of  reward  were  the  chief  motives  for  their  dis- 
charge of  duty;  and  they  ruled  their  families  as 
they  thought  that  God  ruled  them.  Their  sombre 
view  of  life  was  doubtless  intensified  by  their  pov- 
erty and  the  strain  of  overwork. 

"  The  apple,"  says  Luther,1  "  should  always  lie  beside 
the  rod.  Children  should  not  be  punished  for  trifling 
things,  like  cherries,  apples,  pears,  nuts,  as  though  they 
were  serious  matters.  My  parents  dealt  with  me  so 
severely  that  I  was  completely  cowed.  My  mother  once 
beat  me  for  the  sake  of  an  insignificant  nut,  until  the 
blood  came.  Her  strictness  and  the  rigorous  life  she 
compelled  me  to  lead  drove  me  into  the  monastery  and 
made  me  a  monk.  But  at  heart  they  meant  it  well. 

1  Erlangen  edition  of  Luther's  works,  first  issue  (subsequently  re- 
f erred  to  as  Erlangen),  61:  274. 


i5oi]  Childhood  9 

They  were  unable  to  discriminate  between  dispositions, 
and  to  adapt  their  correction  accordingly." 

Never  did  their  devotion  to  their  son  cease.  As, 
in  later  years,  they  followed  him  with  implicit  con- 
fidence, as  their  spiritual  guide,  and  rejoiced  in  the 
freedom  of  the  Gospel  to  which  he  led  them,  so  in 
childhood  his  highest  interests  ever  weighed  on 
their  hearts.  Friends  report  that  his  father  was 
found  bending  over  his  child's  cradle  in  earnest 
prayer.  He  was  early  taught  to  pray.  From  his 
mother  he  learned  the  Ten  Commandments,  the 
Creed,  and  the  Lord's  Prayer.  But  of  the  meaning 
of  most  of  that  with  which  his  memory  was  stored 
he  was  ignorant.  The  instructions  of  the  mother 
abounded  in  the  superstitions  current  at  that  time 
among  the  German  peasantry,  while  the  pictures 
and  legends  of  the  saints,  and  the  processions  and 
other  ceremonies  of  the  Church,  made  a  deep  im- 
pression upon  his  youthful  mind.  St.  George,  the 
patron  of  the  Counts  of  Mansfeld,  and  St.  Anna, 
the  patroness  of  miners,  were  peculiarly  revered.  In 
his  mature  years  he  was  pleased  to  read  in  the 
legend  of  the  former  a  useful  allegory.  As  his  ven- 
eration for  St.  Anna  was  a  later  acquisition  than  that 
for  St.  George,  it  was  more  readily  dismissed.  The 
vivid  sense  of  diabolical  agency  which  characterised 
him  throughout  life  was  deeply  rooted  in  the  fears 
of  supernatural  enemies  to  be  encountered  in  the 
dark,  that  pervaded  the  mining  community  in  which 
he  was  raised. 

Determined  that  his  son  should  receive  the  very 


io  Martin  Luther  [i483- 

best  advantages  for  education  that  his  limited  means 
could  afford,  John  Luther  made  many  sacrifices  in 
order  to  carry  out  this  purpose.  School-days  began 
at  so  early  an  age  that  the  child  was  sometimes 
carried  to  school  by  John  Oemler,  one  of  his  older 
schoolmates,  and,  afterwards,  his  brother-in-law. 
The  methods  of  the  school  were  crude  and  mechan- 
ical ;  the  teachers,  rough  and  cruel.  Reading, 
writing,  and  arithmetic  were  supplemented  by  some 
elementary  religious  instruction,  and  some  pretence 
at  teaching  Latin.  So  liberal  were  the  blows  with 
which  the  blustering  schoolmaster  attempted  to 
cover  his  incompetency,  that  the  pupils  had  love 
neither  for  the  teacher  nor  the  branches  which 
he  represented.  No  less  than  fifteen  times  in  a 
single  morning  did  this  bungling  pedagogue  beat 
this  young  child  !  He  speaks  from  experience  when, 
in  mature  life,  he  says:  "  It  is  a  miserable  thing, 
when,  on  account  of  severe  punishments,  children 
learn  to  dislike  their  parents ;  or  pupils,  their  teach- 
ers. Many  a  clumsy  schoolmaster,  by  blustering 
and  storming  and  striking  and  beating,  and  by 
treating  children  precisely  as  though  he  were  a  hang- 
man, completely  ruins  children  of  good  disposition 
and  excellent  ability."  '  But  for  this  school,  with 
all  its  defects,  it  may  be  said  that  it  gave  him  a 
knowledge  of  the  Psalter,  and  of  a  number  of  the 
classical  hymns,  which  he  was  in  future  years  to 
translate  and  adapt  to  popular  use. 

In  1497,  at  the  age  of  fourteen,  a  better  school 
was  found  for  him  at  Magdeburg.  He  did  not  go 

1  Erlangen,  6l:  374. 


Childhood  n 


from  Mansfeld  alone.  John  Reineck,  who  accom- 
panied him,  remained  his  lifelong  friend.  Forty 
years  afterwards,  when  Reineck,  then  foreman  of  a 
foundry,  lost  his  wife,  he  received  a  letter  of  con- 
solation from  the  schoolmate  of  his  youth.  Magde- 
burg, about  forty  miles  north  of  his  home,  afforded 
him  his  first  experience  and  contact  with  city  life. 
The  veneration  with  which  he  regarded  the  eccle- 
siastical buildings  that  were  the  ornament  of  the 
place,  and  were  even  then  grey  with  age,  can  be 
imagined.  As  his  teachers,  he  tells  us,  he  had  mem- 
bers of  the  religious  society  of  the  "  Noll  Brothers," 
a  branch  settlement  of  the  "  Brethren  of  the  Com- 
mon Life."  This  organisation,  without  exacting 
vows,  had,  as  its  end,  the  cultivation  of  a  deeper 
spiritual  life.  Among  his  comrades  was  his  subse- 
quent co-labourer,  Wenceslaus  Link.  Thrown  upon 
his  own  resources  for  support,  he  sang  for  alms  at 
the  windows  of  the  wealthier  citizens,  a  mode  of 
livelihood  that  had  been  rendered  respectable  by 
the  example  of  the  mendicant  friars,  who  had  ex- 
alted poverty  to  the  rank  of  a  virtue.  Here  he 
remained  for  but  one  year. 

The  next  year,  his  parents  preferring  that  he 
should  not  remain  among  entire  strangers,  he  was 
transferred  to  Eisenach,  the  home  of  his  mother's 
family,  and  not  far  from  Mohra.  But,  as  he  con- 
tinued to  sing  for  his  support,  his  relatives  were 
probably  not  in  such  circumstances  that  they  could 
aid  him.  Attracted  by  the  open  countenance  and 
sweet  voice  of  the  boy,  Madame  Ursula  Cotta, 
whose  maiden  name  was  Schalbe,  the  wife  of  a  lead- 


12  Martin  Luther  [i483- 

ing  merchant  and  member  of  a  prominent  family  of 
Italian  descent,  invited  him  into  her  house,  and, 
finally,  gave  him  a  home  for  the  rest  of  his  Eisenach 
life.  Not  from  its  wealth  and  standing  among  co- 
temporaries  does  the  Cotta  family  live  in  history, 
but  from  this  benevolent  act,  that  has  linked  the 
name  of  Ursula  Cotta  with  that  of  her  renowned 
pensioner.  In  her  home  he  was  introduced  to  an 
entirely  new  sphere  of  life,  and,  just  at  the  age 
when  he  most  needed  such  advantages,  experienced 
the  ennobling  influence  of  a  cultivated  Christian 
woman,  and  of  a  peaceful  family  life,  unembarrassed 
by  anxiety  for  daily  support,  spent  in  the  fear  of 
God,  and  attentive  to  the  wants  of  those  less  highly 
favoured.  At  Eisenach  he  found  also  an  instructor 
who  contrasted  greatly  with  those  under  whom  he 
had  previously  been,  and  who  gave  him  the  first  de- 
cided intellectual  stimulus.  In  John  Trebonius 
learning  and  courtesy  were  combined.  What  must 
have  been  the  feeling  of  the  boy,  accustomed  to  the 
barbarous  treatment  in  the  school  at  his  home,  at 
finding  at  last  a  preceptor,  eminent  for  his  scholar- 
ship, uncovering  his  head  in  the  presence  of  his 
pupils,  and  publicly  censuring  his  assistants  for 
neglecting  to  show  the  same  respect  to  the  future 
dignitaries  who  were,  for  the  time,  under  their  in- 
struction! Such  consideration  inspired  the  pupils 
with  self-respect,  and  rendered  them  eager  to  prove 
themselves  worthy  of  the  honour  shown  them. 
Melanchthon  tells  us  that  Luther  was  accustomed  to 
boast  of  having  been  a  pupil  of  such  a  teacher. 
Under  Trebonius  his  progress  was  most  rapid.  All 


i5oi]  Childhood  *3 

his  fellow-students  were  far  surpassed.  During  this 
period  his  studies  were  chiefly  grammatical  and 
classical.  Two  influences  must  have  affected  his 
religious  development  at  this  time.  His  home  in 
the  Cotta  family  brought  him  into  close  relations 
with  the  institution  of  the  Franciscans,  in  the  near 
neighbourhood,  founded  and  endowed  by  the 
Schalbe  family,  from  which  Mrs.  Cotta  came.  He 
also  became  intimate  with  an  Eisenach  priest,  by 
the  name  of  Braun,  who  afterwards  appears  promi- 
nently as  a  correspondent. 

Four  years  having  been  spent  at  Eisenach,  almost 
under  the  shadow  of  the  Wartburg,  he  entered  the 
University  of  Erfurt  in  the  summer  semester  of 
1501.  His  name  was  enrolled  as  "  Martinus  Lud- 
her  ex  Mansfeld."  His  father  having  prospered 
financially,  he  was  relieved  of  all  further  care  con- 
cerning his  own  support,  and  was  thus  enabled  to 
devote  himself  entirely  to  his  studies. 


AUTOGRAPH  OF  REUCHLIN. 


EISENACH  IN  LUTHER'S  TIME. 


CHAPTER  II 

STUDENT  LIFE 

F7RFURT  stood  at  the  head  of  the  German  uni- 
J_^  versities  of  the  fifteenth  century.  Opened  to 
students  in  1392,  it  was  chronologically  the  fifth, 
but  in  number  of  students  the  first.  Called  some- 
times "  The  German  Bologna."  a  current  saying 
ran,  that  in  Erfurt  there  were  as  many  Masters  of 
Arts  as  there  were  stones  in  the  pavement ;  while 
another  adage  was:  "  He  who  would  study  well, 
must  go  to  Erfurt."  In  1455  alone,  five  hundred 
and  thirty-eight  students  were  matriculated,  the 
entire  attendance  reaching  two  thousand.  Popular 
demonstrations  marked  all  public  exercises  of  the 
University ;  for  it  was  the  pride  of  the  city,  which, 
while  not  ranking  as  a  free  town,  was  ambitious 
and  enterprising,  and  a  place  of  much  importance, 


1505]  Student  Life  15 

chafing  under  the  dominion  of  the  Archbishop  of 
Mayence. 

In  entering  the  University,  Luther's  plans  for  his 
future  were  not  fixed.  His  father,  who  appreciated 
his  marked  abilities,  thought  that  the  profession  of 
law  offered  him  the  best  opportunities  for  success, 
and  had  shaped  his  course  accordingly.  As  the  first 
years  were  devoted  to  liberal  studies,  an  immediate 
decision  as  to  a  profession  was  unnecessary.  The 
two  branches  to  which  he  devoted  himself  were 
philosophy  and  classical  literature,  or  Humanism, 
as  it  was  then  called.  Philosophy  embraced  not 
only  logic  and  rhetoric,  and  some  of  the  topics 
now  assigned  to  metaphysics,  but  also  the  elements 
of  the  physical  sciences,  including  astronomy,  as 
taught  in  those  days.  The  two  best -known  profes- 
sors in  the  philosophical  faculty  at  Erfurt  were 
Jodocus  Trutvetter,  of  Eisenach,  and  Bartholomew 
Arnoldi,  of  Usingen,  both  representatives  of  the 
later  Scholasticism,  which,  under  the  banner  of 
Nominalism,  was  gradually  disintegrating.  With 
all  the  ardour  of  his  nature,  Luther  applied  himself 
to  philosophy,  and  eagerly  accepted  the  teachings 
of  his  professors,  especially  Trutvetter.  The  text- 
books in  use  were  the  writings  of  William  Occam, 
Peter  D'Ailly,  John  Gerson,  and  Gabriel  Biel. 
Nominalism,  whose  adherents  were  called  also  Ter- 
minists,  denied  the  reality  of  general  ideas,  affirming 
that  they  have  existence  only  as  creations  of  the 
mind,  and  that,  as  reality  is  to  be  found  only  in  the 
concrete  and  particular,  objects  can  be  known  only 
as  individuals. 


1 6  Martin  Luther  [1483^ 

"  The  Terminists,"  said  Luther,  "  is  the  name  of  a 
school  in  the  universities,  to  which  I  belonged.  They 
oppose  the  Thomists,  Scotists,  and  Albertinists,  and  are 
called  also  Occamists,  from  Occam,  their  founder.  The 
controversy  was  as  to  whether  such  words  as  *  humanity ' 
mean  a  common  humanity,  existing  in  all  men,  as 
Thomas  and  the  rest  held,  or,  as  the  Occamites  and  the 
Terminists  say,  there  is  no  such  common  humanity,  but 
it  means  all  men  individually,  just  as  the  picture  of  a 
man  stands  for  all  men.  They,  then,  are  called  Termin- 
ists, who  speak  of  a  thing  in  its  own  proper  terms  just  as 
they  sound  and  mean,  and  attach  thereto  no  strange  and 
fanciful  meanings.  Occam  is  a  wise  and  sensible  man, 
who  endeavoured  earnestly  to  amplify  and  explain  a 
subject" ' 

But  he  criticises  Occam  for  his  lack  of  spirituality, 
and  "  as  one  who  had  no  knowledge  of  spiritual 
temptations."1  Biel,  he  says,  was  read  with  great 
disappointment ;  but  Gerson  he  held  in  the  highest 
esteem,  as  one  who  had  advanced  far  towards  a  true 
knowledge  of  the  Gospel.8  To  Luther,  the  mysti- 
cal side  of  Nominalism  was  attractive ;  since  it  taught 
that,  as  subjects  can  be  known  only  individually,  all 
other  truths  must  be  remitted  to  the  domain  of 
faith. 

The  time  given  to  logic  he  never  regretted. 

"  Logic,"  he  says,  "  teaches  one  to  say  a  thing  dis- 
tinctly and  plainly,  and  in  short,  clear  words.  It  does 
not  give  the  ability  to  teach  concerning  all  subjects,  but 
is  only  an  instrument  enabling  one  to  teach  correctly,  and 

1  Erlangen,  62  :    113.  J72.,ii6. 


i5os]  Student  Life  17 

in  proper  order,  what  he  has  already  learned.  It  en- 
ables one  to  give  a  round,  short,  and  straight-to-the-point 
definition,  and  is  highly  necessary  for  use  in  schools, 
courts,  and  churches."  ' 

Like  arithmetic,  he  regarded  it  an  indispensable 
formal  science.  His  only  criticism  is  that  the  tech- 
nical terms,  such  as  "  syllogism,"  "  enthymeme," 
"  proposition,"  ought  to  be  translated  into  plain 
German.2  For  the  study  of  astronomy,  he  found  a 
direct  command  in  Gen.  xv.,  5,  and  commended  it 
for  the  wonders  it  disclosed,  such  as  the  rapid  move- 
ment of  the  firmament,  whereby,  in  twenty-four 
hours,  it  traverses  "  several  thousand  miles";  the 
fact  that  "a  star  is  larger  than  the  whole  earth,  and, 
yet,  there  are  so  many  stars  ";  the  peculiar  move- 
ments of  the  planets;  the  twinkling  of  the  stars, 
etc.  "  Astronomy  and  mathematics  I  praise;  but 
astrology  I  regard  of  no  account."  * 

But  since,  at  Erfurt,  Humanism  was  undermining 
Scholasticism,  the  study  of  the  Greek  and  Latin 
classics  corrected  the  one-sided  development,  which 
exclusive  attention  to  the  merely  formal  and  natural 
sciences  would  have  given.  The  classics  were  the 
windows  through  which  he  looked  from  the  seclu- 
sion of  his  study  into  the  world,  and  was  able  to 
read  human  nature,  and  to  learn  the  habits  and 
passions  and  motives  of  men  of  other  times  and 
other  lands.  Little  did  he  care  for  comparative 
etymology  or  textual  criticism.  What  he  sought 
was  the  picture  of  life,  to  be  found  in  these  writers. 

1  Erlangen,  62  :  303.         */5.,    298  sq.,  303.  s  It.,  317  sqq. 


1  8  Martin  Luther 


He  estimated  them,  not  according  to  their  style, 
but  according  to  their  sense.  Like  a  well-trained 
logician,  he  weighed  their  arguments.  "  He  read 
them,"  says  Melanchthon,  "  not  like  boys  who  pick 
out  words,  but  for  their  doctrine  and  pictures  of  life. 
The  maxims  and  judgments  of  these  writers  were 
closely  examined,  and,  as  his  memory  was  faithful, 
most  that  he  read  and  heard  was  ever  at  his  com- 
mand."1 His  illustrations  from  these  sources,  in 
after  life,  were  numerous  and  apt.  Cicero  was, 
above  all,  his  favourite.  '  He  who  wants  to  learn 
true  philosophy,  must  read  Cicero."  '  He  has 
written  more  than  all  the  philosophers,  and  has  read 
all  the  books  of  the  Greeks."  *  Next  in  his  regard 
came  Ovid  and  Vergil,  whom  he  prized  for  their 
maxims.  He  was  familiar  also  with  Livy  and 
Strabo,  Plautus  and  Terence.  The  descriptions 
and  allusions,  reflecting  the  corruption  of  the  age  in 
which  they  lived,  he  would  have  banished  from  the 
schools. 

In  the  prosecution  of  these  studies,  according  to 
the  testimony  of  Melanchthon,  Luther  became  so 
distinguished  that  "  his  talents  were  the  admiration 
of  the  University."  But  he  was  not  so  absorbed  in 
his  studies  as  to  take  no  interest  in  the  general  life 
of  the  place.  Academic  ceremonies  he  continued, 
throughout  life,  to  commend,  as  advancing  the 
glory  of  God.  In  circles  of  intimate  friends,  the 
sociability  of  his  nature  found  frank,  and,  possibly, 
even  boisterous  expression.  They  called  him 
Musicus,  "  because  of  his  skill  in  playing  the  lyre, 
1  C.  R.t  6  :  157  (see  note  2,  p.  29).  9  Erlangen,  62  :  341. 


1505]  Student  Life  19 

an  art  in  which  he  was  self-taught,  having  learned  it 
while  confined  to  his  room  on  account  of  a  danger- 
ous wound  he  had  accidentally  received  in  his  leg. 
One  of  his  comrades  in  the  University,  John  Lange, 
continued  to  be  a  lifelong  confidential  friend.  On 
September  29,  1502,  he  received  the  degree  of 
Bachelor  of  Arts  ;  and,  at  Epiphany,  1505,  his 
graduation,  with  seventeen  others,  as  Master  of 
Arts,  was  celebrated  by  a  torch-light  procession  and 
other  brilliant  demonstrations  usual  at  that  time  in 
the  University. 

Of  his  religious  life  during  his  student  days  we 
know  little.  Matthesius,  his  pupil  and  intimate 
friend,  is  authority  for  two  important  statements. 
One  is  that  he  began  the  work  of  every  day  with 
prayer,  according  to  his  motto :  Bene  orasse  est  bene 
studuisse  ("  To  pray  well  is  to  study  well  ").  The 
other  is  that,  in  the  examination  of  the  volumes  in 
the  University  library,  he  found  a  copy  of  the  Latin 
Bible,  and  was  delighted  at  having,  at  last,  in  his 
hands  the  entire  volume,  from  which  the  lessons 
already  well  known  to  him  in  the  Missal  and  Brevi- 
ary, had  been  taken.  The  first  passage  that  met 
his  eyes  was  the  story  of  Hannah,  in  First  Samuel. 

Among  the  preachers  at  Erfurt,  he  used  to  speak 
of  a  Dr.  Sebastian  Weinmann,  as  a  zealous  advocate 
of  the  law,  but  lamented  that,  during  his  entire 
career  there,  he  had  never  heard  either  a  gospel  or 
a  psalm  properly  explained.  The  city  abounded  in 
evidences  of  religious  life.  Rich  in  churches  and 
chapels,  cloisters  and  fraternities,  it  recalled  at  every 
step  the  religious  instruction  of  his  childhood. 


20  Martin  Luther  [i483~ 

The  burning  coal,  thus  kept  alive,  was  destined  to 
start  a  conflagration  when  the  great  crisis  in  his 
career  came.  That  crisis  was  his  choice  of  a  pro- 
fession. His  father  intended  him  for  a  lawyer.  At 
considerable  expense,  the  necessary  books  had  been 
purchased,  and  he  had  begun  to  attend  lectures  on 
jurisprudence.  But  Luther  was  never  made  to  be  a 
jurist.  For  collecting  precedents  he  had  no  taste. 
Red  tape  has  its  uses,  and  the  world  needs  those  who 
insist  upon  it ;  but  the  free  spirit  of  Luther  could 
never  have  been  confined  by  its  trammels,  or  sup- 
pressed by  the  rigidity  and  minuteness  of  its  de- 
mands. His  sympathy  with  his  fellow-men,  and  his 
love  of  determining  general  principles,  and,  through 
them,  reaching  a  destined  end,  were  too  great. 
Often  throughout  his  life  the  adage,  Summum  jus, 
summa  injuria  ("  The  strictest  justice  may  be  the 
greatest  injustice  "),  came  from  his  pen.  There 
must  be,  said  he,  not  law,  but  equity;  since  there 
must  be  forgiveness  of  sins.  The  spiritual  danger 
of  those  who  adopted  the  legal  profession  was  a  fre- 
quent subject  of  his  remarks.  For  the  calling,  there- 
fore, for  which  his  father  had  intended  him,  he  had 
no  love ;  and  yet,  from  obedience  to  his  parents,  he 
felt  it  his  duty  to  follow  the  path  they  had  pre- 
scribed. This  conflict  quickened  within  him  the 
sense  of  his  relation  to  the  higher  law,  on  which  his 
obedience  to  parents  was  based.  The  sudden  death 
of  a  friend,  who,  according  to  the  best  accounts, 
was  assassinated,  some  say  by  his  very  side,  fol- 
lowed, shortly  afterwards,  by  a  narrow  escape  from 
death  by  lightning,  in  a  forest  on  the  way  between 


1505]  Student  Life  21 

Erfurt  and  Eisleben,  determined  him  to  obey  what 
he  then  regarded  as  the  commands  of  a  higher  law. 
Terrified  by  the  violence  of  the  storm  that  was 
raging  around  him,  and  especially  by  the  fearful 
bolts  that  were  crashing  through  the  trees,  ad- 
dressing one  of  the  patron  saints  of  his  childhood, 
the  protectress  of  the  Saxon  miners,  he  cried  out : 
"  Help  me,  dear  St.  Anna!  I  will  become  a  monk." 
Misguided  in  this  though  he  was,  he  thus,  under 
the  sense  of  his  responsibility  to  God,  asserted  his 
Christian  freedom. 

The  vow  thus  made  was  faithfully  performed. 
Two  weeks  later,  on  July  16,  1505,  he  invited  his 
most  intimate  friends  to  spend  the  evening  with 
him.  It  was  what  he  believed  to  be  his  farewell  to 
the  world.  For  the  last  time  he  determined  to 
enjoy  music  and  song.  The  decision  once  made,  all 
sadness  was  gone.  The  contradictions  of  his  life 
were  clearly  reflected  by  his  conduct  that  evening. 
He  who  could  sing  and  play  over  the  prospect  of 
renouncing,  for  Christ's  sake,  singing  and  playing, 
was  to  find,  hereafter,  that  Christ  was  to  be  honoured 
by  song  and  music,  rather  than  by  silence,  and  by 
social  intercourse  and  contact  with  the  world,  rather 
than  by  seclusion.  Sorrowfully  his  friends  accom- 
panied him,  the  next  morning,  to  the  gates  of  the 
Augustinian  cloister,  where  he  knocked  for  admis- 
sion. As  they  opened,  he  entered.  They  closed. 
The  monastic  habit  was  assumed.  The  world  was 
left  behind. 


DESIGNED  BY  LUTHER'S  COLLEAQUE,  DR.  JUSTUS  JONA& 

CHAPTER  III 

IN   THE   CLOISTER 

HE  was  now  face  to  face  with  the  deepest  ques- 
tion that  could  agitate  man's  mind.  The  one 
great  subject  that  was  henceforth  to  absorb  his  at- 
tention was  that  of  his  relation  to  God.  Deeply 
devout,  the  principles  were  already  rooted  in  his 
heart  that  were  to  push  their  way  through  severe 
conflict  to  a  complete  victory  over  the  errors  that 
attended  them  and  held  him  captive. 

Whatever  abuses  pervaded  monachism,  due  credit 
should  ever  be  given  to  the  moral  earnestness  in 
which  it  originated,  and  the  spiritual  influence 
which,  during  the  period  of  the  Church's  decline, 
it  often  exercised  and  diffused.  Even  though  they 
fell  under  the  corrupting  influences  against  which 
they  arose  as  protests,  nevertheless  what  mediaeval 
Christianity  would  have  been  without  its  religious 
orders,  it  is  difficult  to  surmise.  In  the  midst  of  an 
ignorant,  careless,  and  often  immoral  clergy,  and 

22 


i5o8]  In  the  Cloister  23 

under  bishops  completely  secularised,  the  monks, 
as  they  moved  from  place  to  place,  were  the  preach- 
ers and  spiritual  guides  of  the  people,  and,  mistaken 
though  they  often  were,  they  asserted  the  claims  of 
God,  and  awakened  men  to  the  sense  of  the  eternal 
and  spiritual.  When  time  wrought  changes,  and 
institutions,  intent  on  spiritual  interests,  were  cor- 
rupted, reforms  were  repeatedly  instituted,  or  new 
orders  were  founded,  to  fulfil  the  design  that  the 
orders  then  existing  had  no  longer  in  view. 

The  Augustinian  Hermits,  to  whom  the  cloister 
at  Erfurt  belonged,  originated  in  1256  by  the  union 
of  eight  minor  orders,  and  received  its  name  from 
the"  Rule  of  St.  Augustine,"  compiled  from  the 
writings  of  the  great  Church  Father,  which  formed 
the  basis  of  their  constitution.  A  recent  vigorous 
attempt,  on  the  part  of  Andreas  Proles,  to  correct 
abuses  and  to  enforce  the  requirements  of  a  stricter 
life,  had  led  to  the  establishment,  within  the  Order, 
of  an  organisation  or  "  special  congregation,"  to 
whom  the  Augustinians  of  Saxony  belonged.  Pur- 
ity of  outward  life,  deep  earnestness,  and,  especially, 
activity  and  reputation  as  preachers,  characterised 
these  Saxon  monks.  Among  the  new  requirements 
of  this  "  special  congregation  "  was  that  of  diligence 
in  the  study  of  the  Holy  Scriptures.  But  it  would 
be  erroneous  to  infer  from  their  name  that  any  par- 
ticular stress  was  laid  upon  the  Augustinian  doctrines 
of  sin  and  grace.  It  was  rather  for  the  churchly 
side  of  his  teaching,  than  as  the  opponent  of  Pela- 
gius,  that  Augustine  was  revered.  The  Vicar- 
General  of  the  "  congregation,"  John  Staupitz, 


24  Martin  Luther  [i483- 

accepted  a  purer  teaching  of  the  Gospel  than  was 
hitherto  current ;  but  he  did  not  realise  whither  his 
principles  led.  Such  questions  as  were  agitating 
the  mind  of  Luther  were  regarded  with  indifference 
by  the  great  body  of  monks. 

Proud  though  the  entire  cloister  was  that  it  had 
gained  so  brilliant  a  master  of  arts,  no  difference 
was  at  first  made  between  him  and  other  novitiates. 
In  this  first  grade  one  year  was  spent.  With  his 
name  exchanged  for  that  of  "  Brother  Augustine," 
and  under  the  charge  of  the  master  of  novices,  he 
endured  the  most  rigid  discipline,  until  the  authori- 
ties of  the  University  interfered,  and  obtained  some 
mitigations  for  its  distinguished  alumnus.  Sweep- 
ing, scrubbing,  scouring,  begging  from  door  to  door, 
occupied  a  good  portion  of  his  time.  The  instruc- 
tions which  he  received  were  chiefly  concerning  such 
trivialities  as  how  to  stand,  to  walk,  to  sit,  to  kneel, 
how  to  hold  his  hands  and  direct  his  eyes,  how  to 
eat  and  drink,  and  how  to  conduct  himself  in  the 
presence  of  priests  and  other  superiors.  Every 
effort  was  taken  to  suppress  any  germs  of  pride  that 
might  still  exist,  and  to  accustom  him  to  the  most 
humiliating  obedience.  At  a  weekly  confessional 
service,  each  brother  publicly  enumerated  his  sins, 
and  reports  were  made  by  censors  of  such  sins  in 
others  as  had  come  to  their  notice.  If  the  novice 
had  at  any  time  been  late,  or  had  fallen  asleep,  or  had 
made  an  unnecessary  noise,  or  occasioned  a  laugh 
during  service,  he  could  be  absolved  upon  the  repe- 
tition of  a  psalm.  But  if  he  had  broken  the  silence 
in  his  cell,  or  had  spoken  to  a  woman,  the  rod  de- 


BUILDING  OF  THE  CISTERCIAN   MONASTERY,  SCHONAU,   NEAR 
HEIDELBERG. 

FROM  A  GERMAN  MS.  OF  THE  XVITH  CENTURY. 


i5o8]  In  the  Cloister  25 

scended  upon  his  bared  shoulders.  Imprisonment, 
fetters,  a  fare  of  bread  and  water,  were  the  penalties 
for  the  most  serious  offences.  So  exacting  were  the 
rules,  and  so  sure  the  punishment,  that  a  tender 
conscience  would  readily  find  matters  of  sin  within 
spheres  concerning  which  God's  word  is  silent,  and 
would  be  tortured  lest  it  might  fail  to  notice  any 
omissions  of  duty.  In  order  to  detect  any  trace  of 
sin,  every  thought  and  word  was  analysed.  For 
solid  study,  there  was  little  time  or  taste.  Luther's 
associates  were  envious  of  their  more  scholarly 
brother,  and  reminded  him  that  his  duty  was  to  beg 
rather  than  to  study.  But  what  time  he  could  com- 
mand, was  chiefly  given  to  the  Holy  Scriptures,  a 
copy  of  which  was  placed  in  his  hands.  Matthesius 
reports  how  he  read  the  Psalter  and  the  Epistles  to 
the  Romans  and  the  Hebrews,  weighing  each  sen- 
tence word  by  word.  Much  of  his  time  was  occupied 
with  the  daily  services  of  the  cloister.  Mention  may 
be  made  alone  of  the  repetition  of  the  Pater  Noster 
twenty  times,  with  the  Ave  Maria,  at  each  of  the 
seven  daily  canonical  hours.  Some  concession, 
however,  was  made  in  the  omission  of  some  hours 
at  certain  seasons  of  the  year. 

At  the  end  of  the  year  he  was  admitted,  with  the 
customary  rites,  to  full  membership  in  the  Order. 
To  Almighty  God,  the  Virgin  Mary,  and  the  prior 
of  the  monastery  he  vowed  obedience,  promising  to 
live,  until  death,  without  property  and  in  celibacy. 
The  ceremony  over,  he  was  pronounced  free  from 
sin,  just  as  though  he  were  a  child  coming  forth 
from  holy  baptism.  Allotted  a  cell  with  the  very 


26  Martin  Luther  [i483- 

plainest  furniture — a  table,  a  chair,  a  couch,  and  a 
lamp, — he  was  introduced  to  the  study  of  scholastic 
theology,  under  professors  living  in  the  monastery, 
John  Paltz  and  John  Natin.  The  text-books  for 
instruction  were  mainly  the  writings  of  the  teachers 
who  had  been  his  masters  in  philosophy,  Occam  and 
Gerson,  Biel  and  D'Ailly.  But  he  was  dissatisfied. 
In  his  studies  he  took  no  real  interest.  He  pursued 
them  alone  for  the  practical  end  that,  by  subjection 
to  this  discipline,  he  might  find  peace  of  conscience 
in  the  assurance  of  salvation.  So  attentive  was  he 
to  every  duty,  that  his  instructor,  Natin,  declared 
to  a  cloister  of  nuns,  at  Muehlhausen,  that  he  was  a 
model  of  holiness,  and  had  been  miraculously  con- 
verted. "  In  all  the  exercises  of  lessons,  discus- 
sions, fastings,  prayers,"  says  Melanchthon,  "  he  far 
surpassed  all."  "  If  a  monk  ever  could  have  gone 
to  heaven  by  his  observance  of  monastic  vows," 
Luther  afterwards  declared,  "  I  would  have  been 
the  one."  '  But  the  more  he  was  commended,  the 
more  he  felt  his  spiritual  poverty.  Nothing  was  as 
interesting  to  him  as  his  Bible;  and,  yet,  he  was 
warned  against  its  constant  use,  lest  it  might  nurture 
his  pride,  and  cause  him  to  undervalue  the  scholas- 
tic writers,  in  whom,  it  was  asserted,  the  very  mar- 
row of  Scriptural  teaching  was  to  be  found. 

A  survey  of  the  religious  opinions  and  teachings 
with  which  he  was  struggling,  can  be  gathered,  with- 
out difficulty,  from  his  full  confessions  in  subsequent 
years.  The  one  thought  of  God,  overshadowing  all 
others,  was  that  of  His  wrath.  Notwithstanding 

1  Erlangen,  31  :  273. 


In  the  Cloister  27 

all  his  efforts  for  righteousness,  he  regarded  himself 
as  the  object  of  this  wrath.  Christ,  he  knew,  had 
been  given  as  Redeemer;  but  not  for  the  sins  of  all 
men,  nor  even  for  all  the  sins  of  the  redeemed.  He 
was  entangled  in  speculations  concerning  predestina- 
tion. Redemption  afforded  the  opportunity  for  a 
new  effort  on  man's  part,  rather  than  paid  the  full 
penalty  for  sin.  Only  sins  committed  before  baptism 
were  forgiven  because  of  Christ's  death;  the  effect 
of  His  vicarious  work  upon  other  sins  was  only  to 
commute  the  penalty,  so  as  to  render  man's  satisfac- 
tion possible.  Instead  of  Redeemer,  Christ  was  re- 
garded as  a  new  Lawgiver,  offering  salvation  upon 
easier  terms  than  Moses.  But,  even  with  these 
terms  mitigated,  how  could  man  ever  be  sure  that 
he  fulfilled  them  ?  If  monastic  observances  were  to 
advance  his  salvation,  how  could  he  ever  be  satisfied 
that  they  were  performed  with  sufficient  perfection  ? 
He  confesses: 

"  For  so  long  a  time  I  laboured  and  tortured  myself 
with  fasts,  vigils,  prayers,  etc.,  that  thereby  I  might  at- 
tain this  assurance.  But,  for  my  whole  life,  my  heart 
could  not  be  assured  that  God  was  well  pleased  with  the 
work  that  I  had  done,  or  had  certainly  heard  my  prayer. 
Even  when  I  prayed  most  devoutly  every  day,  and  con- 
fessed most  fully,  and  said  Mass,  and  did  the  very  best, 
if  any  one  had  asked  me,  '  Are  you  sure  that  you  have 
the  Holy  Ghost  ? '  I  must  have  answered  :  '  God  forbid 
that  I  should  be  so  presumptuous  !  I  am  a  poor  sinner. 
I  have  done  this  and  that ;  but  know  not  whether 
it  have  certainly  pleased  God.'  For  fifteen  years  I  was 
just  such  a  pious  monk  ;  and  yet  never  advanced  so  far 


28  Martin  Luther  [i483~ 

as  to  be  able  to  say,  *  Now  I  am  sure  that  God  is  gracious 
to  me,'  or,  *  Now  I  have  sought  and  experienced  that  my 
devotion  to  my  Order  and  my  strict  life  have  helped 
and  led  me  towards  heaven.'  Never  was  I  able  to  say, 
'  O  God,  I  know  that  my  prayer,  made  in  the  Name  and 
faith  of  Christ,  Thy  dear  Son,  pleases  Thee,  and  is 
assuredly  heard.'  " 

Such  prayers  were  not  what  the  Holy  Scriptures 
know  as  prayers.  There  was  no  joyful  communion 
of  the  soul  with  a  reconciled  and  loving  Father. 
Estimated  by  their  number  and  frequency,  so  that 
prayers  omitted  at  one  time  could  be  made  up  after- 
wards, they  were  only  exercises  of  self-mortification, 
whereby  an  attempt  was  made  to  purchase  God's 
favour.  Between  Christ  Himself,  regarded  as  Law- 
giver, and  therefore,  like  the  Father,  an  angry 
Judge,  the  Virgin  Mary  and  the  saints  were  inter- 
posed ;  and  only  through  them  could  the  distressed 
soul  reach  its  Redeemer.  Even  of  his  favourite 
among  the  scholastics,  he  says:  "  Occam,  my  dear 
Master,  writes  that  it  cannot  be  proved  from  the 
Holy  Scriptures  that,  in  order  to  do  good  works,  the 
Holy  Spirit  is  necessary."  * 

But,  amidst  this  darkness,  there  were  those  who 
were  enlightened  by  the  truth  contained  in  the  por- 
tions of  the  Holy  Scriptures  they  had  read,  and  in 
the  collects  and  other  portions  of  the  Missal  and 
Breviary.  Not  so  keenly  as  Luther  had  they  felt 
the  conflict  between  the  evangelical  and  unevangeli- 
cal  elements  so  strangely  intermingled  in  the  Church. 

1  Erlangen,  17  :  13  sq.     Cf.  ib.,  46  :  64,  73  ;  49:  300,  314. 
*  Walch,  xix.,  2324. 


i5o8]  In  the  Cloister  29 

Without  the  same  depth  of  spiritual  earnestness, 
they  had  not  made  the  same  endeavour  to  fulfil 
every  requirement  and  meet  every  condition ;  and, 
therefore,  were  content  to  be  comforted  by  the 
truth  that  they  apprehended,  and  to  overlook  the 
errors  that  pervaded  the  entire  system  of  doctrine 
and  orders  of  devotion.  To  this  class  belonged  an 
old  monk,  to  whom  he  once  confessed  his  mental 
anguish,  and  who  comforted  him  by  saying:  "  My 
son,  do  you  not  know  that  God  has  commanded  us 
to  hope?"1  Still  more  impressive  was  another 
answer,  when  his  adviser  pointed  him  to  the  article 
of  the  Creed:  "  I  believe  the  forgiveness  of  sins  "; 
with  the  interpretation  that  we  are  not  to  believe 
that  only  some  persons  receive  forgiveness,  as  the 
demons  believe  that  David  or  Peter  is  forgiven,  but 
that  it  is  God's  command  that  each  one  should  be- 
lieve that  his  own  sins  are  forgiven.*  A  passage, 
cited  from  Bernard  of  Clairvaux,  in  which  the  em- 
phasis was  laid  upon  the  one  word,  Tibi,  "  For 
thee,"  became  a  permanent  treasure  of  his  heart,  as 
its  echo  in  the  explanation  of  the  Small  Catechism, 
treating  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  clearly  shows.  But, 
even  with  the  answer  to  his  doubts  within  him,  the 
conflict  for  a  long  time  continued.  The  works  of 
Augustine  were  studied,  especially  his  notes  on  the 
Psalms.  The  treatise,  Of  the  Spirit  and  Letter, 
afforded  much  support  to  his  faith,  but,  again,  oc- 

1  Erlangen  edition  of  Luther's  Latin  exegetical  works  (subsequently 
referred  to  as  Op.  ex.),  19  :  200. 

8  Corpus  Reformatorum  (containing  in  its  first  28  vols.  the  works 
of  Melanchthon  and  subsequently  referred  to  as  C.  11.),  6  :  159. 


30  Martin  Luther  [1483. 

casioned   doubt   by  its   suggestions  concerning  an 
absolute  predestination. 

Another  member  of  the  Order,  in  whom  the  evan- 
gelical principle  prevailed,  and  who  was  of  inestim- 
able service  to  Luther,  was  its  Vicar-General,  John 
von  Staupitz.  A  man  of  noble  family,  of  imposing 
appearance,  of  liberal  culture,  of  a  deeply  mystical 
type  of  Christianity,  a  graduate  of  Tuebingen,  a 
professor  and  dean  of  the  University  of  Wittenberg, 
an  intimate  friend  and  influential  adviser  of  the 
Elector  of  Saxony,  he  had,  in  1503,  succeeded  An- 
drew Proles  as  the  head  of  the  Reformed  Augus- 
tinians.  In  his  visitations  to  Erfurt  he  became 
acquainted  with  Luther  and  his  spiritual  conflicts. 
With  the  utmost  freedom  the  young  monk  disclosed 
to  him  the  secrets  of  his  heart.  Staupitz  told  him 
that  the  difficulty  was  that  he  was  constantly  trying 
to  find  sins  where  there  were  none,  and  that  his 
confessions  were  occupied  with  matters  that  were 
absolutely  trivial.  When  Luther  spoke  of  his  fear 
of  Christ,  Staupitz  answered:  "  That  is  not  Christ, 
for  Christ  does  not  terrify  ;  He  only  consoles." 
When  he  explained  his  difficulties  concerning  pre- 
destination, Staupitz  advised  that,  whenever  he  con- 
sidered the  subject,  he  should  think  of  the  wounds 
of  Christ,  and  all  his  controversial  zeal  would 
vanish.1  Many  years  after,  Luther  wrote:  "  If  Dr. 
Staupitz,  or  rather  God,  through  Dr.  Staupitz,  had 
not  aided  me  in  this,  I  would  have  been  long  since 

1  Luther's  Letters,  edited  by  De  Wette  and  Seidemann  (subsequently 
referred  to  as  De  Wette),  4:  187  ;  Op.  ex.,  6:  296  ;  Erlangen,  57: 
146. 


DR.  STAUPITZ. 

AFTER  A  CONTEMPORARY  OIL  PAINTING  IN  THE  AUGUSTINIAN  MONASTERY 
AT   SALZBURG. 


i5o8]  In  the  Cloister  31 

in  hell."1  Staupitz  warned  against  the  danger 
of  trusting  to  his  own  powers,  and  taught  man's  in- 
ability to  do  aught,  except  by  the  grace  of  God, 
upon  which  man  is  to  implicitly  trust.  The  true 
meaning  of  repentance  was,  likewise,  explained  as 
a  habit,  or  state  of  heart  and  life,  rooted  in  love  to 
God,  rather  than  an  act  or  a  succession  of  acts.1 
This  explanation  afterwards  emerged  in  the  very 
first  of  the  Ninety-five  Theses  of  1517. 

Ordained  to  the  priesthood  in  1507,  his  first  cele- 
bration of  the  Mass  was  an  occasion  of  peculiar  in- 
terest. Cantate  Sunday,  May  2d,  was  designated 
as  the  time,  with  especial  reference  to  the  conven- 
ience of  his  father,  who,  deeply  offended  by  his 
entrance  into  the  monastery,  had  pronounced  the 
son  a  madman,  but  had  been  softened  by  the  death, 
from  plague,  of  two  other  sons.  He  came,  accom- 
panied by  no  less  than  twenty  friends,  on  horseback. 
To  the  new  priest  the  service  was  a  great  trial.  The 
sense  of  his  unworthiness  and  the  fear  of  committing 
a  grievous  sin  by  making  even  the  most  trifling  mis- 
take, oppressed  him.  As  he  contemplated  the 
thought,  which  he  actually  believed  a  reality,  that 
his  words  brought  the  Body  and  Blood  of  his  Lord 
to  the  altar,  he  trembled.  The  act  over,  he  received 
the  presents  and  congratulations  of  friends,  his  father 
honouring  the  occasion  with  a  liberal  gift.  Now 
was  the  opportunity,  thought  Luther,  to  obtain  a 
word  of  acquiescence  and  approval  from  his  hitherto 
relentless  parent.  At  the  banquet  that  followed,  he 
publicly  put  to  him  the  question,  as  to  whether  he 

1  Erlangen,  56  :  39.  *  De  Wette,  i  :  116. 


32  Martin  Luther  [1508 

were  not  satisfied.  With  characteristic  frankness 
and  firmness,  the  plain  old  man  addressed,  not  his 
son,  but  the  whole  company:  "  Ye  learned  men, 
have  ye  not  read  in  the  Holy  Scriptures,  that  father 
and  mother  are  to  be  honoured?"  When  some 
one  answered  that  the  son,  however,  had  had  a  call 
from  heaven,  the  father  was  not  disconcerted,  but 
suggested  that  what  they  regarded  a  call  from 
heaven,  might  have  been  a  delusion  of  the  devil.1 

1  De  Wette,  2  :  100  sqq. 


V   *    i^ *.*Jm&*^^    *.  --  (i  iBiMiitui  rj 

a1  IB  '"-"' 


UNIVERSITY  OF  ERFURT. 


WITTENBERG  IN  LUTHER'S  TIME. 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE   PROFESSOR 

ABOUT  sixty  miles  S.S.W.  from  Berlin,  and 
forty  miles  N.N.E.  from  Leipzig,  on  the 
railway  route  between  the  two  cities,  lies  Witten- 
berg, the  small  city  which  is  most  closely  associated 
with  Luther's  name.  At  the  beginning  of  the  six- 
teenth century  it  was,  according  to  Luther,  "  on  the 
borders  of  civilisation,"  and  contained  about  three 
thousand  poverty-stricken  inhabitants,  living  in 
three  or  four  hundred  low,  frame,  straw-thatched 
houses,  built  upon  a  sandy  plain,  that  suffered 
severely  from  periodical  visitations  of  the  plague. 
But  there  were  compensations.  Here,  until  1542, 
was  the  residence  of  the  Electoral  princes  of  Saxony. 
Two  large  churches,  known  as  the  Stadt  Kirche,  or 
Parochial  church,  and  the  Schloss  Kirche,  or  Castle 
3  33 


34  Martin  Luther  [1483- 

church,  were  centres  of  religious  life.  The  latter, 
having  originated  in  the  chapel  of  the  castle,  was 
erected  in  1449,  and  became  a  point  from  which  the 
neighbouring  village  churches  were  supplied  with 
priests,  a  work  that  had  necessitated  the  founding 
of  a  chapter-house  for  the  accommodation  of  the 
clergy.  An  Augustinian  cloister  had  also  found  a 
home  there. 

The  Elector  Frederick  the  Wise  (born  1463  ;  Elec- 
tor from  1486)  was  a  man  of  liberal  culture,  being 
well  versed  in  the  Latin  classics,  and  having  the 
French  language  at  his  command.  He  was  also  an 
interested  student  of  all  that  was  then  taught  of  the 
natural  sciences,  and  had  supplemented  his  studies 
by  extensive  travels.  In  him  the  suggestion  of  the 
Emperor  Maximilian  I.,  at  the  Diet  of  Worms  in 
1495,  that  each  of  the  Electors  should  endeavour  to 
found  a  university  within  his  territory,  for  the  culti- 
vation of  his  subjects,  met  with  hearty  sympathy. 
There  is  a  tradition  of  a  break  in  the  faculty  of 
Leipzig,  on  account  of  a  controversy  between  its 
two  leading  medical  professors,  Pistoris  and  Pollich, 
rendering  their  continued  association  an  impossibil- 
ity, and  the  consequent  effort  of  each  to  establish  a 
new  university  in  which  to  find  a  new  field  of  labour, 
resulting  in  the  University  of  Frankfort  as  the  new 
school  for  Pistoris,  and  that  of  Wittenberg  for  Pol- 
lich. However  this  may  be,  Dr.  Pollich  certainly 
performed  an  important  part  in  laying  the  founda- 
tions of  Wittenberg.  He  had  been  the  tutor  of  the 
Elector,  was  both  physician  and  jurist,  and  had  ac- 
companied Frederick  on  his  pilgrimage  to  the  Holy 


I5i7]  The  Professor  35 

Sepulchre.  Neither  Erfurt  nor  Leipzig  could  be 
relied  upon  for  any  great  service  to  Ernestine  Sax- 
ony. The  former  was  under  the  control  of  the 
Archbishop  of  Mayence,  while  the  latter  belonged 
to  the  territory  of  the  Albertine  branch  of  the  Elec- 
tor's family.  The  chapter-house  and  Augustinian 
cloister  at  Wittenberg  offered  a  supply  of  teachers 
who  could  be  advantageously  used,  as  long  as  the 
University  would  be  in  a  formative  state,  and  its 
revenues  too  limited  for  the  support  of  a  better- 
equipped  corps  of  instructors.  Besides  Pollich, 
Staupitz  was  soon  enlisted  in  the  enterprise.  On 
October  18,  1502,  the  University  was  formally 
opened,  with  Pollich  as  the  first  rector,  and  Stau- 
pitz as  the  dean  of  the  theological  faculty.  It  was 
modelled  after  the  University  of  Tuebingen,  with 
which  it  stood  in  close  relations.  The  opening  ser- 
mon played  upon  the  name  of  the  place,and  prophe- 
sied concerning  the  true  wisdom  that  would  emanate 
thence,  and  be  diffused  throughout  the  world.  It 
was  an  Augustinian  institution,  a  truly  denomina- 
tional college  of  the  sixteenth  century.  Augustine 
was  made  its  patron  saint,  and  St.  Paul  the  peculiar 
model  of  the  members  of  its  theological  faculty. 
On  the  first  day  four  hundred  and  sixteen  students 
were  enrolled.  But  the  project  was  too  extensive 
for  the  resources.  Enthusiasm  was  chilled,  and  a 
rapid  decline  in  the  attendance  seemed  to  indicate 
its  early  dissolution.  The  removal  to  Herzberg,  in 
1506,  on  account  of  the  plague,  threatened  to  be  the 
death-blow  of  the  young  institution.  But  in  1507  it 
was  again  in  Wittenberg,  and  from  that  time  it 


36  Martin  Luther 

ceased  to  be  an  experiment.  The  Pope  having,  in 
that  year,  given  its  establishment  his  formal  ratifica- 
tion, the  Elector,  who  had  hitherto  supported  it 
exclusively  by  private  gifts,  was  justified  in  applying 
public  revenues  to  this  end.  The  number  of  instruct- 
ors and  lecturers  for  that  year  rose  to  thirty-eight. 
With  wise  forethought,  Staupitz  not  only  called 
eminent  scholars  to  important  chairs,  but  provided 
for  the  training  of  future  professors,  by  appointing 
the  most  promising  young  scholars  among  the 
Augustinians  under  him  as  instructors.  In  Novem- 
ber, 1508,  seven  such  instructors  were  sent  by  him 
to  Wittenberg,  where,  although  engaged  in  univer- 
sity work,  they  were  to  reside  at  the  Augustinian 
monastery,  and  devote  a  large  portion  of  their  time 
to  study,  evidently  with  a  view  to  service  in  after 
years.  Luther  was  summoned  to  become  one  of 
this  number,  and  so  suddenly  that  he  was  unable  to 
take  leave  of  his  most  intimate  friends.  At  Witten- 
berg he  found  the  most  stimulating  of  his  Erfurt 
professors,  Trutvetter,  who  had  preceded  him  by  a 
year,  while  his  former  professor  of  law,  Henning 
Goede,  was  soon  to  follow,  and  to  be  the  main  in- 
strument in  thoroughly  organising  the  new  Univer- 
sity. The  energetic  administration  of  a  young 
professor  of  law,  Christopher  Scheurl,  of  Nurem- 
berg, as  rector,  had  contributed  much  toward  in- 
creasing the  numbers  and  good  discipline  of  the 
students,  whom  he  forbade  to  carry  weapons,  or  to 
visit  saloons  or  taverns.  In  the  theological  faculty 
were  Nicholas  von  Amsdorf,  destined  to  become 
one  of  Luther's  warmest  adherents,  and  Andrew 


i5i7]  The  Professor  37 

Bodenstein  von  Carlstadt,  whose  revolutionary  radi- 
calism Luther  was  to  resist  with  as  much  vigour  as 
the  assumptions  of  the  Papacy. 

For  the  first  few  months,  the  distasteful  task  of 
lecturing  upon  the  Dialectics  and  Physics  of  Aris- 
totle was  assigned  to  Luther.  These  lectures  were 
delivered,  probably,  not  in  the  University,  but  in 
the  monastery.  To  his  friend,  Braun  of  Eisenach, 
he  wrote  that  he  would  very  gladly  exchange  philo- 
sophy for  theology.  "  Theology  is  the  branch, 
which  examines  the  kernel  of  the  nut,  the  flour  of 
the  wheat,  and  the  marrow  of  the  bones."  '  Not 
long  did  he  wait.  On  March  9,  1509,  he  became  a 
Bachelor  of  Theology,  with  authority  to  lecture  upon 
the  text  of  the  Holy  Scriptures.  The  method  em- 
ployed was  to  read  cursorily  large  portions  of  the 
books  of  the  Bible,  adding  brief  comments.  Ac- 
cording to  Melanchthon,  so  experienced  and  discrim- 
inating a  judge  as  Dr.  Pollich  declared,  after  several 
of  these  lectures,  that  Luther  was  destined  to  change 
the  entire  method  of  instruction  then  current  in  the 
schools.  While  engaged  in  this  work,  and  before 
attaining  the  next  degree  in  theology,  that  of  a 
Sententiarist,  or  one  authorised  to  lecture  on  the 
first  two  books  of  the  Sentences  of  Peter  Lombard, 
he  was  recalled,  in  the  autumn  of  1509,  to  Erfurt, 
where  he  entered  upon  the  duties  in  the  theological 
faculty  assigned  those  who  had  taken  the  second 
degree.  A  spirited  controversy  was  agitating  the 
Saxon  Augustinians  concerning  the  policy  of  their 
Vicar-General,  Staupitz,  in  which  the  sentiment  at 

1  De  Wette,  i  :  6. 


38  Martin  Luther  [1483- 

Erfurt  was,  to  say  the  least,  not  on  his  side.  Pos- 
sibly it  was  for  this  reason  that  Staupitz  desired 
Luther  to  return  to  Erfurt.  He  had  been  making 
the  effort  to  bring  all  the  monasteries  of  the  Augus- 
tinians  in  Germany  within  the  so-called  Reformed 
Congregation;  but  had  met  with  the  most  obstin- 
ate resistance  from  the  Nuremberg  Augustinians  and 
their  adherents,  who  dreaded  concessions  relaxing 
the  severity  of  the  discipline. 

Towards  the  close  of  September  or  beginning  of 
October,  1511,  Luther  was  sent,  with  John  von 
Mecheln  of  the  Netherlands,  to  Rome,  in  order  to 
represent  there  the  case  of  Staupitz;  the  eminent 
strictness  of  Luther's  life,  and  his  rigid  observance 
of  the  rules  of  the  Order,  giving  his  advocacy  of  what 
was  regarded  the  liberal  side  all  the  greater  weight. 
By  the  end  of  February  they  had  returned.  The 
result  of  their  mission  can  only  be  inferred  from  the 
fact  that  the  project  of  Staupitz  was  abandoned,  and 
that  he  retained  the  esteem  of  the  monasteries  that 
had  made  successful  protest. 

For  Luther's  training,  this  mission  was  far  more 
important  than  it  was  for  the  end  directly  in  view. 
He  often  declared  that  it  was  worth  to  him  more 
than  one  hundred  thousand  guilders.  Every  theo- 
logical student,  Luther  thought,  ought  to  go  to 
Rome  if  opportunity  offered.  Upon  foot,  from 
monastery  to  monastery,  he  and  his  companion 
went  across  the  Alps,  and,  by  the  picturesque  plain 
of  Lombardy,  passed  into  Italy.  Everywhere  his 
eyes  were  open,  and  important  lessons  for  the  future 
were  learned.  At  Florence,  the  hospitals,  adminis- 


i5i7]  The  Professor  39 

tered  by  Christian  women,  delighted  him.  The 
first  sight  of  Rome  inspired  him  with  an  enthusiasm 
similar  to  that  with  which  the  crusaders  greeted 
Jerusalem.  He  fell  upon  the  ground,  and,  with  out- 
stretched hands,  exclaimed:  "  Hail,  holy  Rome!" 
Such  marks  of  the  ancient  city  as  could  still  be 
found  he  was  interested  in  tracing,  and  mentioned 
afterwards  the  Colosseum  and  the  Baths  of  Diocle- 
tian, remarking  that  the  houses  of  the  modern,  city 
are  built  above  the  roofs  of  their  predecessors.  Still 
greater  attraction  for  him  did  the  ecclesiastical 
buildings  have.  With  admiration  he  gazed  upon 
St.  Peter's,  as  an  edifice  which,  although  then  very 
recent,  he  believed,  in  his  simplicity,  to  be  thirteen 
hundred  years  old.1 

The  chief  attraction,  however,  was  not  that  of 
sight-seeing,  but  the  spiritual  blessing  that  he  hoped 
to  receive.  It  was  his  purpose  to  make  there  an  un- 
reserved confession  of  all  the  sins  that  he  had  ever 
committed.  Although  he  had  made  such  confession 
twice  before  at  Erfurt,  he  expected  an  especial  bless- 
ing from  the  same  confession,  if  made  in  the  Holy 
City.  Mass  he  celebrated  a  number  of  times,  and 
actually  wished  that  his  parents  were  dead  because, by 
such  service  at  Rome,  he  thought  that  he  would  have 
been  able  to  deliver  them  from  purgatory.  His  son 
Paul  told  the  story  that  has  become  familiar,  as  one 
that  he  had  heard  from  him,  concerning  his  toilsome 
ascent,  upon  his  knees,  of  Pilate's  stairway,  and  how 
the  words,  "  The  just  shall  live  by  faith,"  came  to 
him  as  though  uttered  in  tones  of  thunder. 

1  Erlangen,  62  :  438,  441. 


40  Martin  Luther  [1483- 

To  his  German  earnestness  the  frivolity  of  the 
Italian  priests  was  a  grievous  offence.  If  he  was 
shocked  when,  on  reading  Mass,  a  priest  by  his  side 
urged  him  to  hurry  on,  he  was  startled  still  more 
when,  at  the  table,  some  Carmelites  told  the  story 
as  a  matter  of  mirth,  how  the  holy  elements  had 
been  consecrated  with  the  words:  Pants  es,  et panis 
manebis.  Vinum  es,  et  vinum  manebis  ("  Thou  art 
bread,  and  bread  shalt  thou  remain ;  wine  thou  art, 
and  wine  thou  shalt  remain"),  thus  turning  the  Holy 
Eucharist  into  a  farce.1  On  his  return  journey,  in 
the  cathedral  at  Milan,  he  heard  the  Ambrosian,  in- 
stead of  the  Gregorian  Mass,  and  thus  learned,  for 
the  first  time,  that  within  the  Roman  Church,  and 
even  in  Italy,  there  was  no  absolute  uniformity  in 
.the  services. 

Yet  it  was  as  a  faithful  son  of  the  Church,  and  a 
zealous  champion  of  the  Papacy,  that  he  returned  to 
Germany.  The  criticism  of  many  things  that  he 
saw  and  heard  does  not  date  from  that  period,  but 
was  made  as,  in  later  years,  he  recalled  his  experi- 
ences, and  judged  them  in  the  new  light  that  had 
dawned  upon  him. 

On  his  return  to  Germany,  Luther's  home  was 
for  the  second  time  made  at  Wittenberg.  In  the 
summer  of  1512,  he  was  appointed  sub-prior  of 
the  monastery ;  in  October  of  the  same  year,  he  be- 
came, on  the  4th,  a  licentiate,  and,  on  the  ipth,  a 
Doctor  of  Theology.  His  conduct  of  the  mission 
to  Rome  had  won  for  him  universal  esteem.  Stau- 
pitz  desired  to  assign  him,  at  as  early  a  date  as 

J  Erlangen,  31  :  327. 


i5i7]  The  Professor  41 

possible,  to  a  prominent  position  in  the  University. 
The  rapid  succession  of  degrees  in  October  had  this 
end  in  view.  They  aroused  jealousy,  however,  at 
Erfurt,  whose  authorities  were  unwilling  to  relin- 
quish their  claim  upon  Luther,  as  an  alumnus,  and 
regarded  the  haste  with  which  the  degrees  were  con- 
ferred by  Wittenberg  as  an  unjustifiable  attempt  to 
anticipate  the  institution  from  which  these  degrees 
would  otherwise  shortly  have  come.  To  Luther 
the  degrees  came  without  his  seeking  them.  The 
degree  of  doctor  of  theology,  he  realised,  brought 
with  it  new  duties  and  responsibilities.  "  Upon  a 
Doctor,"  he  says,  "  it  is  incumbent,  according  to  his 
oath  of  office,  to  explain  the  Scriptures  to  all  the 
world,  and  to  teach  every  one."  *  Although  he 
shrank  from  such  publicity,  and  preferred  the  retire- 
ment and  quiet  studies  of  the  monastery  to  the  con- 
flict and  bustle  of  life,  he  could  not  dissuade  Staupitz 
from  his  purpose.  Ten  years  afterwards,  he  showed 
some  of  his  friends  a  pear  tree,  under  which  he  had 
pleaded  with  his  superior  to  excuse  him  from  this 
promotion,  with  its  responsibilities.  But  Staupitz 
was  inexorable,  and  Luther's  vow  of  obedience  com- 
pelled him  to  submit.  The  Elector,  having  heard 
him  preach,  showed  his  appreciation  by  providing 
all  the  expenses  of  the  promotion.  At  the  cere- 
mony, his  later  antagonist,  Dr.  Carlstadt,  presided 
and  conferred  the  degree.  His  old  schoolmate, 
Wenceslaus  Link,  at  that  time  the  prior  of  the 
Wittenberg  monastery,  participated  prominently  in 
the  service.  He  received  the  hat  and  ring  of  the 
1  Erlangen,  39  :  356. 


42  Martin  Luther  [1483- 

doctorate;    the   latter   may  be  seen  to-day  in  the 
Ducal  Museum  at  Brunswick. 

At  the  age  of  twenty-nine,  Luther  found  himself 
not  only  installed  into  a  professorship  of  theology, 
with  the  right  to  lecture  on  all  the  branches  of  that 
science,  but,  also,  with  the  main  responsibility  rest- 
ing upon  him  for  all  the  instruction  that  was  to  be 
given.  From  that  time,  the  presence  of  Staupitz  at 
Wittenberg  was  not  frequent,  while  Trutvetter  had 
been  recalled  to  Erfurt,  and  neither  Amsdorf  nor 
Link  could  command  the  influence  of  a  leader.  In 
this  position,  he  did  not  hesitate  to  break  through 
all  traditional  modes  of  theological  instruction.  As 
he  preferred  to  be  called  a  "  Doctor  of  the  Holy 
Scriptures"  to  a  "  Doctor  of  Theology,"  so,  in- 
stead of  commenting  upon  the  Scholastics,  or  at- 
tempting to  formulate  a  theological  system,  he  made 
the  study  of  the  Book  of  books  the  first  and  main 
part  of  all  his  teaching.  When  the  statement  is 
sometimes  made,  that  he  began  the  Reformation  by 
the  assertion  of  the  Material  Principle  of  Protestant- 
ism, and  that  its  Formal  Principle,  viz.,  that  of  the 
supreme  authority  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  was  an 
after-thought,  this  revolution,  which,  five  years  be- 
fore the  publication  of  his  Theses,  he  introduced 
into  the  mode  and  order  of  a  theological  course,  is 
overlooked.  The  Book  of  Psalms  was  selected,  not 
only  because,  of  all  the  books  of  the  Bible,  he  was 
most  familiar  with  it,  but,  especially,  since,  in  the 
daily  services,  the  words  of  the  Psalmist  were  so 
deeply  impressed  upon  the  minds  of  his  students, 
and  pervaded  to  such  an  extent  the  entire  life  of  the 


The  Professor  43 

Church,  that  it  was  of  first  importance  that  they 
who  so  frequently  used  the  words,  should  under- 
stand what  they  mean.  "  From  the  sixth  century 
to  the  sixteenth,"  says  the  late  Dr.  John  Mason 
Neale,  "  it  is  scarcely  an  exaggeration  to  assert  that 
a  portion  equal  to  two  times  the  whole  Psalter  was 
hebdomadally  recited."  The  Book  of  Psalms  was 
always  Luther's  Prayer-Book.  To  this  Melanchthon 
referred  in  his  funeral  address,  stating  that  he  de- 
voted a  fixed  period  of  time  almost  every  day  to  the 
private  recitation  of  the  Psalms,  and  had  no  patience 
with  those  who,  either  because  of  indolence,  or  press- 
ing duties,  were  content  to  pray  by  the  mere  direc- 
tion of  the  sighs  of  their  heart  to  heaven.1 

New  also  was  his  mode  of  lecturing.  The  Psalms 
in  their  Latin  version  were  printed  with  wide  mar- 
gins, and  with  spaces  between  the  lines  for  the  inser- 
tion of  annotations.  The  translation  was  compared 
constantly  with  the  original,  and  an  occasional  refer- 
ence was  made  to  Augustine  and  Reuchlin.  The 
traditional  rule  of  the  fourfold  sense  of  Scripture 
was  observed.  The  chief  canon  of  interpretation, 
with  which  he  starts,  is  that  "  all  prophecies  and 
prophets  must  be  understood  as  referring  to  Christ, 
wherever  there  are  no  express  words  to  the  effect 
that  something  else  is  meant."  *  The  Psalter  being 
interpreted  by  his  own  experience  of  the  grace  of 
God,  the  exposition  is  occupied  with  such  topics  as 
the  righteousness  of  faith,  the  merit  of  Christ,  and 
the  distinction  between  the  Law  and  the  Gospel. 

1  C.  R.,  n  :  731. 

*  Walch,  ix.,  1476  sq. 


44  Martin  Luther  [1483- 

However  loyal  still  to  the  Church  of  Rome,  and 
however  zealous  in  performance  of  the  duties  of  his 
Order,  in  these  notes  it  can  be  seen  that  he  had  al- 
ready thoroughly  assimilated  the  principles  that 
were  hereafter  to  determine  his  course.  Still  more 
significant  than  its  presentation  of  doctrine  is  the 
omission  of  much  upon  which  a  mediaeval  writer 
would  have  been  particularly  explicit.  Nor  must  it 
be  thought  that  all  this  was,  at  the  time,  unnoticed. 
Matthesius  tells  us  that  his  teaching  was  condemned 
as  heretical  by  some  both  in  his  own  and  in  other 
orders,  who  were  prevented  from  preferring  charges 
by  their  inability  to  meet  his  arguments. 

After  completing  his  exposition  of  the  Psalms  in 
1516,  he  next  made  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans  the 
basis  of  his  instruction.  Deterred  from  this  for  a 
while  by  his  inadequate  knowledge  of  Greek,  he 
applied  himself  with  the  greatest  diligence  to  the 
study  of  that  language,  and  found  an  important 
assistant  and  adviser  in  John  Lange,  prior  of  the 
monastery  at  Erfurt.  The  lectures  on  Romans  are 
not  extant.  In  subsequent  comments  on  the  Psalms, 
he  speaks  of  the  insight  into  their  meaning  given 
him  by  his  preparations  for  these  lectures  on  Romans. 
Paul  is  the  best  interpreter  of  David.  Then  followed 
a  series  on  Galatians,  re-elaborated  in  1519,  com- 
ments on  Hebrews,  based  on  Chrysostom,  and  on 
Titus.  As  to  the  impression  made  by  these  lectures, 
Melanchthon  writes : 

"  After  a  long  and  dark  night  the  light  of  new  doc- 
trine seemed  to  dawn.  He  showed  the  distinction  be- 


JOHANNES   COCHLAUS.  EOBANUS  HESSUS. 

JOHANNES  REUCHLINUS. 
HANS  SACHS.  CONRAD  CELTES. 

FROM  ENGRAVING  IN  KREUSSLER's       ANDENKEN  IN  MUNZEN." 


i5i7]  The  Professor  45 

tween  the  Law  and  the  Gospel,  and  refuted  the  then 
prevalent  error  that,  by  their  own  works,  men  merit  the 
forgiveness  of  sins,  and,  by  their  observance  of  discipline, 
are  righteous  before  God.  Recalling  the  minds  of  men 
to  the  Son  of  God,  and,  like  the  Baptist,  pointing  to  the 
Lamb  of  God  who  taketh  away  the  sin  of  the  world,  he 
declared  that  sins  are  remitted  freely,  on  account  of  the 
Son  of  God,  and  that  this  benefit  is  to  be  received  by 
faith.  Other  portions  of  the  Church's  doctrine  were 
made  clear.  These  beginnings  of  still  better  things  gave 
him  great  influence,  especially  since  his  life  corresponded 
with  his  speech,  and  his  words  seemed  to  spring,  not 
from  his  lips,  but  from  his  heart."  ' 

The  writer  whom  Luther  read  during  this  period, 
next  to  Augustine,  if  not  to  an  even  greater  extent, 
was  John  Tauler.  The  plain  and  simple  language, 
the  popular  style,  the  directness,  the  practical  point, 
and  the  devotional  fervor  of  his  sermons  would,  of 
themselves,  have  attracted  Luther.  But  the  com- 
plete renunciation  of  self,  the  denial  of  man's  merits, 
the  clear  and  forcible  presentation  of  the  work  and 
merits  of  Christ,  and  the  immediate  access  of  the  be- 
lieving child  of  God  through  Christ  to  his  Father, 
rendered  his  writings  peculiarly  grateful.  The  spirit- 
ual priesthood  of  believers  is  clearly  presented  in  Tau- 
ler, and  only  by  inference  in  Augustine.  In  1516 
he  wrote  to  Spalatin:  "  If  you  take  any  pleasure 
in  reading  the  ancient  and  pure  theology  in  the 
German  language,  read  the  sermons  of  John  Tauler. 
For  neither  in  the  Latin,  nor  the  German  language, 
have  I  found  purer  and  more  wholesome  theology, 

1  C.  R.,  6  :  160  sg. 


46  Martin  Luther  [i483- 

nor  any  that  so  agrees  with  the  Gospel. "  '  At 
another  time:  "  Although  he  is  unknown  to  theolo- 
gians in  the  schools,  nevertheless  I  know  that  I  have 
found  more  pure  divine  doctrine  therein  than  I  have 
found  or  can  be  found  in  all  the  books  of  the  Scho- 
lastics at  all  universities."  "  Since  the  time  of  the 
Apostles,  scarcely  any  writer  like  him  has  been 
born."*  One  who  would  thoroughly  understand 
Luther  must,  therefore,  read  Tauler.  A  few  ex- 
tracts from  Tauler  will  suggest  how  important  such 
study  must  prove. 

"  The  regenerate  and  renewed  are  not  concerned  as  to 
whether  their  works  be  regarded  great  or  small,  glorious 
or  despised.  For  they  ever  look  only  to  the  will  of  God 
and  to  the  duties  of  the  office  they  are  under  obligation 
to  fulfil.  Because  of  such  faith,  all  their  works,  even 
the  most  trifling  and  despised,  are  in  heaven  great  and 
glorious.  They  look  not  as  to  whether  they  may  be  as- 
signed a  higher  or  lower  station  ;  for  in  all  things  they 
desire  nothing  but  the  sole  will  and  pleasure  of  God." ' 

"  Is  it  credible  that  any  human  heart  should  be  so 
hardened  as  not  to  melt  with  joy  and  love,  on  hearing 
that  the  Creator  of  all  things,  in  the  womb  of  the  Virgin 
Mary,  took  upon  Himself  our  nature,  and  was  subject  to 
death  and  suffering,  and  that  the  Lord  of  all  lords  be- 
came the  servant  and  slave  of  all ;  the  Eternal  Son  of 
God,  our  Bridegroom  ;  the  Judge  of  all  men  and  angels, 
our  elder  brother  ?  With  all  His  heavenly  treasures  and 

1  De  Wette,  I  :  46.     Cf.  ib.,  34,  102  ;  also  Walch,  xviii.,  359. 

*  Walch,  xxi.,  567. 

3  Sermons,  with  an  Introduction  by  Dr.  Philip  Jacob  Spener, 
Frankfort-on-the-Main  and  Leipzig,  1703.  On  Epistle  for  First 
Sunday  in  Advent. 


i5i7]  The  Professor  47 

gifts,  He  has  made  Himself  our  own.  All  this  He  has 
given  as  a  treasure  to  us,  mortal  men,  unrighteous  sin- 
ners, who  are  only  earth  and  dust." 

"  Since  He  is  in  us,  and  the  human  nature,  which  He 
has  assumed  of  us,  has  been  united  into  one  Person  with 
His  own  Almighty  Godhead,  there  is  in  Him  nothing 
whereof  we  cannot  partake.  Since  this  human  nature 
has  been  assumed  by  the  Eternal  Son  of  God  into  the 
unity  of  His  Person,  the  believing  man  is  a  child  and 
son  of  God,  with  Christ,  the  Eternal  Son  of  the  Father." ' 

"  How  is  it  that  men  of  to-day  are  so  blinded  that 
they  are  always  trying  to  do  so  much,  and  are  ever 
undertaking  new  enterprises,  as  though  they  had  to  sup- 
port God  in  heaven  ?  But  all  this  they  do  of  them- 
selves, /.  e.,  according  to  their  own  will  and  the  impulse 
of  their  nature,  and  they  have  especial  pleasure  in  them- 
selves." * 

"  Prayer  is  nothing  but  the  going  of  the  heart  to  God. 
Where  we  should  pray  the  Lord  Himself  teaches  when 
He  says,  '  in  spirit.'  No  one  should  imagine  that  that 
is  a  true  prayer  when  one  mumbles  many  outward  words 
and  runs  over  many  psalms."  * 

The  theologian  notices  here  that,  with  all  his 
spirituality,  Tauler's  doctrine  of  Justification  differs 
from  that  of  Luther  in  that  it  lays  more  stress  upon 
"Christ  in  us"  than  upon  "Christ  for  us." 
Neither  was  Luther  able  to  rest  in  that  purely  pas- 
sive enjoyment  of  the  grace  of  God,  which  was  the 
ideal  life  of  Mysticism ;  but  the  more  he  experienced 
this  grace,  the  more  it  impelled  him  to  energetic 

1  Sermons.     On  Gospel  for  First  Sunday  in  Advent. 

*  73.     On  Judica  Sunday. 

*Ib.     On  Fifth  Sunday  p.  Trinity. 


48  Martin  Luther 

activity  within  the  world.  From  the  mystics,  how- 
ever, he  learned  to  submit  patiently  to  the  will  of 
God,  to  abide  by  his  calling,  and  to  await  God's 
time  and  call  for  the  conflicts  of  life. 

A  book  which  he  had  found,  without  title  or  name 
of  author,  but  which  he  believed  to  have  been  writ- 
ten by  Tauler,  as  it  contained  an  epitome  of  his 
theology,  he  published,  with  a  preface,  in  1516, 
under  the  title,  What  the  Old  and  the  New  Man  Are. 
Two  years  later,  having  found  the  entire  work,  of 
which  the  volume  he  had  published  had  been  only 
a  fragment,  he  issued  it  with  a  new  title,  A  German 
Theology  concerning  the  Right  Knowledge  of  How 
Adam  should  Die  and  Christ  Rise  within  Us.  Ac- 
cording to  a  discovery  of  the  present  century,  the 
real  author  was  a  priest  of  Frankfort-on-the-Main, 
and  a  member  of  the  mystical  society  of  "  The 
Friends  of  God,"  a  churchly  communion,  in  an- 
tagonism with  the  rationalistic  "  Brethren  of  the 
Free  Spirit."  To  English  readers  of  to-day  the 
book  is  known  from  the  translation  of  Miss  Wink- 
worth  under  the  title  Theologia  Germanicd,  with  an 
introduction  by  Canon  Kingsley. 

The  foundation  of  his  distinction  as  a  preacher 
was  laid  about  this  time.  In  an  old  dilapidated 
frame  building,  thirty  by  twenty  feet  in  size,  held 
together  by  props,  and  daubed  with  clay,  standing 
within  the  foundation  of  the  walls  of  the  new  mon- 
astery that  had  been  begun,  but  whose  erection  had 
been  temporarily  suspended,  and  from  a  pulpit, 
constructed  of  rough  boards,  raised  three  feet  above 
the  ground,  the  greatest  preacher  of  modern  times 


is:?]  The  Professor  49 

preached  his  first  sermon.  Tradition  tells  of  his 
extreme  reluctance  to  preach,  and  that,  when  Stau- 
pitz  first  suggested  it,  he  answered  that  it  was  no 
light  matter  to  preach  to  the  people  in  God's  stead. 
At  first  he  took  his  turn  as  one  of  the  preachers  of 
the  monastery ;  then  his  services  were  in  demand  as 
a  supply.  The  pastor  of  the  parochial  church,  or 
Stadt  Kirche,  at  Wittenberg,  Simon  Heinse  of 
Brueck,  brother  of  Dr.  George  Brueck,  afterwards 
Chancellor  of  Saxony,  being  in  delicate  health, 
Luther  was  called  in  to  take  his  place.  What  at 
first  was  only  a  temporary  expedient  became  a  fixed 
arrangement  when,  in  1515,  he  received  from  the 
town  council  a  regular  call,  as  a  preacher,  to  supply 
all  otherwise  unprovided-for  appointments  in  that 
church.  The  forty  sermons,  or  extracts  of  them, 
that  remain,  lack  the  force  and  fire  and  popularity 
of  those  that  followed.  They  are  more  scholastic  in 
their  method,  and  abound  in  quotations  from  Church 
writers.  But  they  give  promise  of  the  future.  The 
spirit  struggles  energetically  to  break  through  the 
bonds  by  which  it  is  still  fettered.  He  speaks  out 
freely  his  convictions  concerning  the  word  of  God 
that  he  treats,  but  he  has  in  view  the  clear  statement 
of  truth  rather  than  its  practical  adaptation  and  ap- 
plication to  his  hearers.  Allowance  must  be  made 
for  the  fact  that  we  have  only  his  notes,  written  in 
Latin,  and  not  in  the  vernacular  in  which  they  were 
delivered  in  a  more  direct  and  popular  form.  How- 
ever this  may  be,  his  earnestness,  and  ardour,  and 
clearness  of  statement  won  a  hearing,  and  drew  all 
classes  to  his  preaching. 


50  Martin  Luther  [i483- 

The  story  is  told  that  Duke  George  of  Saxony, 
early  in  1517,  had  applied  to  Staupitz  for  some  one 
to  preach  in  the  chapel  of  the  castle  at  Dresden,  and 
that,  when  Luther  was  sent,  he  preached  with  such 
power  that,  at  the  table  after  the  sermon,  while  one 
of  the  lady  attendants  of  the  Duchess  declared,  if 
she  could  only  hear  another  sermon  like  that,  she 
would  die  in  peace,  the  Duke  said  that  he  would  be 
willing  to  give  a  large  sum  of  money  not  to  have 
heard  it.  In  the  sermon  he  had  plainly  shown  that 
no  one  who  hears  God's  word  with  joy  should  doubt 
concerning  his  salvation ;  for  such  person  must  be  a 
true  follower  of  Christ,  and  one  of  the  elect.  Then 
he  dwelt  upon  the  truth  that,  when  its  consideration 
is  begun  with  the  doctrine  concerning  Christ,  the 
article  of  predestination  affords  the  very  highest 
consolation.  Within  a  month  the  devout  hearer  of 
the  sermon  had  departed  this  life. 

Both  for  his  own  edification  and  for  that  of  the 
people  he  completed  early  in  1517,  and  published 
the  same  year,  a  brief  explanation  of  the  seven  pen- 
itential Psalms.  This  exposition,  he  writes,  was 
prepared,  not  for  cultured  Nurembergers,  but  for 
coarse  Saxons,  to  whom  Christian  doctrine  could 
not  be  explained  in  too  simple  words. 

Administrative  duties,  committed  to  him  by  his 
Order,  occasioned  frequent  interruptions  of  his  pro- 
fessorial and  literary  labours.  Appointed  vicar  in 
May,  1515,  he  was  charged  with  the  oversight  of 
eleven  monasteries,  viz. :  those  at  Wittenberg,  Dres- 
den, Herzberg,  Gotha,  Salza,  Nordhausen,  Sanger- 
hausen,  Erfurt,  Magdeburg,  Neustadt,  and  Eisleben. 


The  Professor  51 

It  was  his  duty,  by  means  of  visitations  and  frequent 
correspondence,  to  learn  of  the  condition  and  decide 
concerning  the  necessities  of  each  monastery  and 
its  inmates.  The  already  thoroughly  occupied  pro- 
fessor of  theology  was  thus  called  to  a  truly  pastoral 
care  of  an  extensive  and  difficult  field.  His  letters 
testify  to  the  fact  that,  while  in  this  position  he 
had  to  settle  troublesome  quarrels  and  misunder- 
standings, and  had  often  to  inquire  concerning  very 
material  things,  as  the  cost  of  clothing,  and  the 
amount  of  beer,  wine,  bread,  and  meat  consumed, 
and  even  had  to  compute,  according  to  a  money 
standard,  the  damage  that  a  storm  had  done  the 
vineyards  of  the  Order,  nevertheless,  the  main 
thought  was  the  spiritual  interest  of  those  with 
whom  he  had  to  deal.  Every  one  in  doubts  and 
perplexities,  like  those  which  had  agitated  him,  he 
seeks  to  give  the  full  benefit  of  his  experience. 

"  Dear  brother,"  he  writes  to  one,  "  learn  Christ  and 
Him  crucified.  Learn  to  despair  of  thyself,  and  to  say 
to  Him  :  '  Thou,  Lord  Jesus,  art  my  righteousness  ;  but 
I  am  Thy  sin.  Thou  hast  assumed  what  was  mine,  and 
given  me  what  was  Thine.  Thou  hast  assumed  what 
Thou  wast  not,  and  hast  given  me  what  I  was  not.'  Be- 
ware of  aspiring  to  such  purity  as  to  be  unwilling  to  seem 
to  be,  aye,  even  to  be  a  sinner.  For  it  is  only  in  sinners 
that  Christ  dwells  ;  for  He  descended  from  Heaven, 
where  He  dwells  among  the  righteous,  in  order  that  He 
might  dwell  among  sinners.  If,  by  our  labours  and 
afflictions,  we  could  attain  peace  of  conscience,  why, 
then,  did  Christ  die  ?  If  you  firmly  believe  this,  as  you 
ought  (for  he  who  believes  it  not  is  accursed),  then  re- 


52  Martin  Luther  [1483- 

ceive  your  uninstructed  and  still  erring  brethren  and 
patiently  bear  with  them.  Make  their  sins  yours,  and  if 
you  have  anything  good,  grant  it  to  them."  ' 

One  of  the  Dresden  monks  having  fled  in  disgrace 
to  Mayence,  Luther  writes  to  the  prior  at  the  latter 
place  to  send  the  monk  either  back  to  Dresden,  or 
to  him  at  Wittenberg,  and  then  adds : 

"  That  offences  come  I  know  is  necessary  ;  the  won- 
der is  that  man  rises  and  stands.  Peter  fell,  that  he 
might  know  himself  to  be  a  man  ;  to-day  the  cedars  of 
Lebanon* which  touch  the  heavens  with  their  heads,  are 
falling.  Even  an  angel  (a  wonder  surpassing  all  won- 
ders) fell  in  Heaven,  and  Adam  in  Paradise.  What 
wonder  then  if  a  reed  be  moved  by  the  wind,  and  the 
smoking  flax  be  quenched  !  "  * 

To  Michael  Dressel,  prior  in  Neustadt,  he  writes: 

"  You  are  seeking  peace,  but  in  the  reverse  order  ;  for 
you  are  seeking  it  as  the  world,  and  not  as  Christ  gives. 
Do  you  not  know,  good  father,  that  God  is  wonderful  in 
His  people,  just  because  He  has  placed  His  peace  in  the 
midst  of  no  peace.  Peace,  therefore,  is  not  to  be  found 
with  the  man  whom  no  one  disturbs,  for  this  is  the 
peace  of  the  world,  but  with  him  whom  all  men  and  all 
things  disturb,  and  who,  nevertheless,  calmly  and  joy- 
fully bears  all  things.  With  Israel,  you  are  saying : 
*  Peace,  peace  '  ;  and  there  is  no  peace.  Say  rather,  with 
Christ :  '  Cross,  cross ' ;  and  there  is  no  cross.  For  the 
cross  ceases  to  be  a  cross  as  soon  as  you  can  joyfully 
exclaim  :  *  Blessed  Cross,  among  all  trees  there  is  none 
like  thee.' " ' 

1  De  Wette,  1 :  17.  s  /£.,  20.  *Ib.,  27. 


IA\AGO-  ERASMI-ROTEROUA 

AB  •  ALBERTO  •  DVRERO-AD 
VlVAAV  EFFIGiEM-DELiXlATA' 


MATA-MZEI 


ERASMUS. 

FROM  A  COPPER  ENGRAVING   BY  ALBERT  OURER. 


1517]  The  Professor  53 

The  above  is  a  fair  specimen  of  the  correspondence 
that  occupied,  as  he  declares,  the  most  of  his  time. 
But  a  storm  was  approaching.  Current  methods 
and  authorities  could  not  be  ignored  and  discarded 
in  silence.  The  time  came  when  he  was  compelled 
to  be  their  critic.  Luther's  criticism  was  the  direct 
result  of  his  positive  statement  of  doctrine.  He  had 
no  love  of  criticism  and  controversy  for  their  own 
sake.  The  theology  of  the  Scholastics  was  the  re- 
sult of  the  effort  to  force  the  contents  of  Revelation 
into  the  moulds  of  thought  of  the  Aristotelian  philo- 
sophy. In  course  of  time  Aristotle  afforded  not 
only  the  form,  but  much  of  the  material  of  the 
definitions  and  principles  of  these  writers.  As 
Luther  progressed,  he  was  indignant  at  finding  that 
most  of  his  difficulties  and  perplexities  had  arisen 
from  this  source;  the  teaching  of  the  Church  had 
been  corrupted  by  a  rationalism,  in  which  Aristotle 
had  been  permitted  to  sit  in  judgment  on  Christ  and 
the  Apostles.  Hence,  in  1516,  he  indignantly  de- 
clared that  if  Aristotle  had  not  been  flesh,  he  would 
not  hesitate  to  affirm  that  he  was  the  very  devil ; 
and  that  it  was  a  great  cross  to  him  that  so  much 
time  was  wasted  in  the  universities  in  studying  this 
writer."  ' 

Appreciating  the  great  impulse  that  Erasmus  had 
given  to  the  study  of  the  Bible,  by  the  new  interest 
that  he  had  enkindled  not  only  for  the  study  of  the 
Greek  language,  but  also  of  the  text  of  the  New 
Testament,  and  sympathising  with  his  exposure  of 
the  errors  of  monks  and  priests,  he  was  deeply  dis- 

1  To  Lange,  De  Wette,  i  :   15. 


54  Martin  Luther 

appointed  to  find  this  great  teacher,  after  all,  miss- 
ing the  central  point  of  the  discussion,  and  reiterating 
the  platitudes  of  the  Aristotelians.  Erasmus,  he 
thought,  would  have  done  far  better  if  he  had  fol- 
lowed Augustine  rather  than  Jerome  as  his  master. 
What  particularly  grieved  him  was  that  Erasmus 
had  misunderstood  the  argument  of  the  Epistle  to 
the  Romans  by  interpreting  the  "  deeds  of  the  law," 
to  which  Paul  denies  justifying  power,  as  referring 
to  the  ceremonial,  and  not  the  moral  law. 

To  overthrow  the  foundation  on  which  this  entire 
conception  of  theology  rested,  he  had  in  preparation, 
in  1516,  a  commentary  on  the  First  Book  of  Aris- 
totle's Physics.  While  nothing  of  this  work  has 
reached  us,  its  results  were  undoubtedly  embodied 
in  a  series  of  Ninety-seven  Theses  concerning  the 
Scholastic  Theology,  which  he  prepared  for  a  dis- 
cussion to  be  held  under  his  presidency,  on  Septem- 
ber 4,  1517.  These  theses  were  an  arraignment  of 
the  scholastic  theology  for  its  departures  from  the 
teachings  of  Augustine  concerning  the  bondage  of 
the  will  in  spiritual  things,  and  the  absolute  need  of 
God's  grace,  from  beginning  to  end,  in  man's  return 
to  God.  The  natural  man,  they  declare,  is  a  bad 
tree,  that  cannot  bear  good  fruit ;  he  can  neither  do 
nor  will  to  do  aught  but  evil.  Man,  by  his  natural 
powers,  cannot  conform  to  a  correct  standard,  or 
wish  that  God  be  God,  but,  instead  of  being  able  to 
love  God  above  all  things,  wants  self  to  be  God,  and, 
therefore,  God  not  to  be  God.  Natural  virtues,  as, 
e.  g,t  those  belonging  to  friendship,  come  from  pre- 
venient  grace.  The  only  preparation  for  grace  is 


i5i7]  The  Professor  55 

God's  election.  On  man's  part,  nothing  but  indis- 
position precedes  grace.  Not  by  doing  righteous 
deeds  do  we  become  righteous,  but  only  when  we 
become  righteous  do  righteous  deeds  result.  All 
citations  from  Aristotle  must  be  ruled  out ;  since  no 
one  becomes  a  theologian  until  he  abandons  Aris- 
totle.1 

In  the  discussion  and  defence  of  these  theses, 
Francis  Guenther  of  Nordhausen  received  the  degree 
of  Bachelor  of  Divinity  "  by  the  unanimous  vote  of 
the  Faculty."  Among  all  at  Wittenberg,  especially 
the  younger  theologians,  there  was  now  general 
sympathy  with  this  break  through  the  trammels 
whereby  all  theological  progress  had  hitherto  been  re- 
strained. At  first,  Carlstadt  and  Lupinus  had  with- 
stood the  movement  ;  but  the  former  was  soon 
converted  from  a  zealous  Thomist  into  an  ardent 
friend  and  champion  of  Luther's  position.  A 
thoughtful  present  of  a  set  of  Augustine's  works  to 
Amsdorf  was  followed  by  his  early  accession  to  the 
ranks  of  those  who  were  advocating  this  cause. 

At  Erfurt  there  was  some  personal  hostility  to 
Luther  because  he  had  received  his  degree  elsewhere 
than  from  his  Alma  Mater.  He  writes  with  much 
concern  as  to  the  probability  of  his  two  former  in- 
structors, Trutvetter  and  Arnoldi,  accepting  his 
position.  The  strength  of  Luther  at  Erfurt  was  in 
the  monastery,  of  which  his  intimate  friend,  John 
Lange,  was  prior.  At  Nuremberg  his  former  col- 
league, Christopher  Scheurl,  who  had  become  legal 

1  Opera  varii  argumentiCErtangen),  subsequently  referred  to  as  Op. 
var.  arg.,  i.,  315  sqq.;  Weimar,  i.,  221  sqq. 


56  Martin  Luther  [1517 

counsel  to  the  city,  and  was  a  leading  member  of 
the  literary  circle  for  which  the  place  was  distin- 
guished, was  in  full  sympathy  and  frequent  corre- 
spondence with  Luther,  while  Wenceslaus  Link, 
another  intimate  friend,  had  become  a  prominent 
preacher  there.  After  reading  the  Theses  of  Sep- 
tember 4,  1517,  Scheurl  wrote  that  he  was  convinced 
that  a  great  change  was  about  taking  place  in  theo- 
logical studies,  so  that  one  could  become  a  theologian 
without  either  Aristotle  or  Plato.  At  the  court  of 
the  Elector  Frederick  was  the  chaplain  and  private 
secretary,  George  Spalatin,  a  fellow-student  of 
Luther  at  Erfurt,  whose  acquaintance  had  ripened 
into  intimacy,  when  he  attended  the  University  of 
Wittenberg  in  151 1,  in  order  to  supervise  the  studies 
of  the  young  Duke  of  Brunswick,  and  who  had  now 
become  an  enthusiastic  advocate  of  the  revived 
Augustinianism. 

All  through  these  efforts,  and  this  period  of  the 
maturing  of  his  convictions,  Luther  never  dreamt  of 
breaking  with  the  Church,  or  occasioning  a  serious 
conflict  within  it.  So  scrupulous  was  he  in  the  ob- 
servance of  every  ecclesiastical  requirement  that  he 
afterwards  told  how,  even  at  this  late  date,  when 
his  engagements  were  so  numerous  as  to  interfere 
with  his  observance  of  the  canonical  hours,  he  once 
shut  himself  up  in  his  cell  on  Sunday,  in  order  to 
make  up  the  number  of  prayers  that  he  had  lost 
during  the  pressing  labours  of  the  preceding  week. 


BOOK  II 

THE  PROTESTANT 
1517-1522 


LUTHER  A3  ELIAS  (MAL.  IV.,  5). 


CHAPTER   I 

THE  SALE  OF  INDULGENCES;  AND  THE  XCV  THESES 

THE  life  of  Luther  is  marked  by  sudden  and  un- 
looked-for events ;  such  were  his  entrance  into 
the  monastery,  his  doctorate  of  theology,  and  his 
marriage.  Such,  also,  were  the  Ninety-five  Theses 
of  October  31,  1517,  and  their  immediate  effect. 
They  were  the  outcome  of  his  pastoral  fidelity  to  the 
souls  with  whom  he  had  to  deal  in  the  confessional. 
What  was  intended  as  a  matter  of  discussion  for  a 
very  limited  circle  of  the  learned,  with  a  view  to  an 
early  remedy  for  an  abuse  of  whose  extent  he  had 
at  the  moment  no  conception,  soon  became  the 
property  of  Christendom,  and  revolutionised  the 
social  and  political,  as  well  as  the  religious  world  of 
Europe.  The  day  on  which  the  Theses  were  pub- 
lished is  the  birthday  of  the  Protestant  Reformation. 
Luther  was  himself  unconscious  of  what  his  pro- 
test implied.  His  criticism  was  called  forth,  not  by 

59 


60  Martin  Luther  (1483- 

papal  indulgences  in  themselves,  but  what  he  had 
found  to  be  their  abuse  in  a  specific  case  falling 
under  his  pastoral  jurisdiction.  The  conception  of 
indulgences  then  prevalent  had  been  a  gradual 
growth.  The  prerequisites  to  absolution,  such  as 
fasts,  alms,  and  pilgrimages,  which  the  Church  had 
once  demanded  only  as  external  pledges  of  the  sin- 
cerity of  penitents  making  confession,  just  as  to-day 
a  consistent  Christian  life  for  a  considerable  period 
is  often  required  among  Protestants  before  one 
separated  for  gross  sin  is  restored  to  full  communion, 
were  regarded  in  course  of  time  as  an  essential  part 
of  the  penitence  itself.  What  at  first  had  the  place 
only  of  evidence  of  a  change  of  heart,  at  last  had 
attained  the  rank  of  a  means  whereby  such  change 
was  effected.  The  rendering  of  the  satisfactions, 
appointed  by  the  priest  to  whom  the  confession  was 
made,  became  an  indispensable  condition  for  deliver- 
ance from  the  consequences  of  sin.  According  to 
the  current  teaching,  sin  brought  guilt  and  punish- 
ment. In  baptism  the  guilt  and  punishment  of 
original  sin  were  remitted.  The  guilt  of  each  actual 
sin,  if  confessed  with  true  sorrow  of  heart,  was  re- 
mitted ;  but,  while  the  penitent  was  absolved  from 
the  guilt,  he  was  not  from  all  the  punishment.  In 
virtue  of  the  merits  of  Christ,  eternal  was  commuted 
to  temporal  punishment;  penalties  beyond  man's 
power  were,  by  the  priestly  absolution,  brought 
within  the  reach  of  man's  ability  to  make  for  them 
satisfaction.  Man  escapes  Hell,  but  he  does  not, 
by  Christ's  atonement,  enter  Heaven.  In  order  to 
escape  the  temporal  punishments  of  sin,  satisfactions, 


i5i7]  The  XCV  Theses  61 

such  as  prayers,  fasts,  alms,  prescribed  by  the  con- 
fessor, must  be  rendered.  Since,  therefore,  every 
sin,  to  have  its  penalties  removed,  must  be  known 
and  grieved  over  and  confessed,  and  have  its  conse- 
quences offset  by  penances  appointed  by  the  Church ; 
and  since  in  this  life  the  greater  number  of  offences 
pass  the  scrutiny  of  even  the  most  spiritually-minded, 
Purgatory  remains  as  the  realm  in  which  all  these 
unsatisfied  sins  of  contrite  children  of  God  meet 
their  temporal  punishment.  From  its  fires  only  an 
indulgence  could  deliver.  The  saints,  it  was  taught, 
had  acquired,  by  their  works  of  supererogation,  a 
fund  of  superfluous  merits,  and  these  merits  could 
be  transferred  by  the  Church.  The  making  of  satis- 
factions for  crimes,  by  means  of  fines,  customary  in 
German  law,  obtruded  itself  in  course  of  time  into 
the  practice  of  the  sale  of  indulgences  to  those  con- 
tributing to  approved  Church  funds.  In  treating  of 
Luther's  protest,  it  should  always  be  explicitly 
taught  that  the  Church,  as  such,  had  not  declared 
that,  by  indulgences,  the  guilt  of  sin  or  its  eternal 
punishments  were  remitted,  but  only  that  exemp- 
tion from  Purgatory  was  provided  for  all  who,  by  true 
contrition  and  confession,  had  been  absolved  of 
guilt.  But,  in  the  minds  of  worldly  and  avaricious 
venders  of  indulgences,  such  distinctions  were  not 
made.  The  guilt  of  sin  was  overlooked  and  only  its 
punishments  kept  in  mind,  while  indulgences  from 
the  penalties  of  sins  repented  of  were  soon  con- 
founded with  indulgences  from  the  penalties  of  sins 
yet  to  be  committed,  or,  in  other  words,  with  pur- 
chased permission  to  commit  sin.  Indulgences  were 


62  Martin  Luther  [i483- 

distinguished  as  general  and  particular,  the  latter  re- 
ferring solely  to  individual  dioceses :  and  as  plenary 
and  incomplete,  according  as  the  indulgence  per- 
tained to  the  entire  burden  of  penalties,  or  was  limited 
to  the  abbreviation  of  the  time  of  punishment. 

Thus  a  means  was  at  hand  whereby  the  money 
often  sorely  needed,  as  the  Church  or  its  dignitaries 
became  secularised,  could  be  most  readily  raised. 
The  Turkish  invasion  formed  the  occasion  for  nu- 
merous resorts  to  this  convenient  expedient.  Such 
indulgences  were  authorised  by  the  Council  of  Basel 
of  1433,  and  tne  decrees  of  Pope  Nicholas  V.  in  1450 
and  1451,  and  were  endorsed  by  the  German  Estates 
in  1471  as  the  best  means  of  raising  funds  for  carry- 
ing on  war  against  the  Turks.  The  completion  of 
St.  Peter's  at  Rome,  and  his  own  luxurious  habits, 
induced  Pope  Leo  X.,  in  1516,  to  resort  to  the 
trade  in  indulgences  upon  a  more  extensive  scale 
than  had  heretofore  been  attempted.  To  prosecute 
the  work  in  Germany,  three  commissioners  were  ap- 
pointed, viz. :  Dr.  John  Angelus  Archimbold,  the 
Franciscan  General  Christopher  de  Forli,  and  Al- 
brecht,  Margrave  of  Brandenburg,  and  Archbishop 
of  Magdeburg  and  Mayence.  The  last  is  to  us  of 
particular  interest,  since  Saxony  was  a  portion  of 
the  territory  assigned  him.  A  young  man  of  only 
twenty-seven  years,  his  position  as  Archbishop, 
which  he  had  filled  already  for  four  years,  and  as 
Electoral  Prince  and  Imperial  Chancellor,  made  him 
the  most  prominent  and  influential  figure  in  Ger- 
many. A  cultivated  scholar,  and  one  of  the  leaders 
of  the  New  Learning,  he  was  the  intimate  friend  of 


i5i7]  The  XCV  Theses  63 

Erasmus,  and  his  praises  had  been  celebrated  in 
verse  by  Ulrich  von  Hutten.  Thus  the  two  men, 
who  in  Italy  and  Germany  were  known  as  the  leaders 
of  the  Renaissance,  Leo  and  Albrecht,  show  by  their 
prominence  in  this  traffic,  that  a  more  sturdy  force 
than  that  of  the  revival  of  literature  was  needed  to 
produce  the  Reformation. 

Living  far  beyond  his  income,  and  pressed  severely 
by  the  Augsburg  bankers,  the  Fuggers,  for  the  pay- 
ment of  loans,  of  which  at  least  twenty,  and  some 
say  thirty  thousand  guldens  had  gone  to  the  pur- 
chase of  the  pallium  of  an  archbishop,  Albrecht 
eagerly  engaged  in  the  undertaking  for  one  half  of 
the  receipts.  Thirty  years  later  he  died,  still  a 
debtor  to  the  Fuggers. 

In  September,  1517,  Albrecht  called  to  his  aid,  as 
sub-commissioner,  the  Dominican,  John  Tetzel,  who 
had  served  the  preceding  year  under  Archimbold. 
Tetzel  (originally  Tietze)  was  a  native  of  Leipzig,  of 
about  sixty  years  of  age,  of  imposing  presence  and 
distinguished  gifts  of  popular  oratory  that  had  been 
devoted  for  nearly  half  a  generation  to  the  sale  of 
indulgences.  The  traffic  had  developed  so  as  to 
demand  the  services  of  specialists.  Even  though 
we  should  concede  the  claims  of  the  writers  of  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church,  that  contemporary  Protest- 
ant authorities  have  done  him  injustice  in  the  charges 
that,  in  1512,  he  had  been  condemned  to  death, 
at  Innsbruck,  for  adultery,  but  had  been  saved  at 
the  intercession  of  the  Elector  of  Saxony,  and  that 
he  offered  indulgences  without  the  conditions  of  con- 
trition and  confession,  their  own  admissions  concern- 


64  Martin  Luther 

ing  the  nature  of  his  work  and  preaching  demonstrate 
the  necessity  for  an  earnest  protest  against  his  ac- 
tivity. By  sheer  audacity  he  had  overborne  the 
resistance  that  had  heretofore  been  evoked  by  his 
assumptions,  and  had  gained  from  the  Emperor 
Maximilian  the  recall  of  his  edict  against  indulg- 
ences, and  the  substitution  of  an  express  authorisa- 
tion. Whithersoever  he  went,  therefore,  he  appeared 
as  the  representative  of  both  State  and  Church,  for, 
beside  his  position  of  commissioner,  he  had  the  rank 
of  Inquisitor-General.  The  bells  of  the  towns  and 
cities  announced  his  approach ;  the  officials  of  the 
place,  the  citizens,  even  the  school-children,  went 
in  procession  to  meet  him.  A  red  cross,  on  which 
the  coat  of  arms  of  the  Pope  was  emblazoned, 
preceded  him.  On  a  velvet  cushion  his  papal 
commission  was  displayed.  Entering  a  church, 
the  red  cross  was  raised  in  front  of  the  high 
altar,  and  the  indulgence  chest  placed  beside  it. 
Sermons  were  preached  by  the  commissioner  or  his 
deputies,  extolling  the  worth  of  indulgences,  and 
urging  their  purchase.  The  terrors  of  the  hearers 
were  excited  by  graphic  pictures  of  the  seven  years' 
penalty  reserved  in  Purgatory  for  every  mortal  sin, 
and  of  the  remedy  offered  at  so  small  a  cost  in  the 
letters  that  were  then  to  be  purchased.  The  indulg- 
ence sellers  were  reported  as  bidding  the  people 
worship  the  red  cross  as  the  holy  of  holies ;  as  de- 
claring that  indulgences  were  more  efficacious  than 
baptism,  and  restored  the  innocency  that  had  been 
lost  in  Adam ;  as  proclaiming  that  a  commissioner 
of  indulgences  saved  more  souls  than  Peter;  and 


LEO  X. 

AFTER  THE  PICTURE  BY  RAPHAEL  IN  THE  PITTI  GALLERY,  FLORENCE. 


i5i7]  The  XCV  Theses  65 

that  as  soon  as  the  penny  sounded  in  the  chest,  the 
soul  was  delivered  from  Purgatory.  Indulgences 
would  avail  for  justification  and  salvation,  even  for 
him  who  had  violated  the  mother  of  God ! 

"  Lo !  Heaven  is  open.  When  will  you  enter,  if  not 
now  ?  Oh  senseless  men,  who  do  not  appreciate  such  a 
shedding  forth  of  grace !  How  hard-hearted  !  For 
twelve  pennies  you  can  deliver  your  father,  and,  never- 
theless, you  are  so  ungrateful  as  not  to  relieve  him  in  his 
distress.  At  the  last  judgment,  I  am  free  ;  but  you  are 
responsible.  I  tell  you,  that  if  you  have  but  one  gar- 
ment, you  should  part  with  it,  rather  than  fail  of  such 
grace."  * 

Gratuitous  indulgences  were  granted  the  poor, 
upon  the  assurance  of  payment  from  the  first  money 
they  could  obtain.  Wives  were  encouraged  to  pur- 
chase without  the  knowledge  of  their  husbands. 

Numerous  incidents  of  Tetzel's  traffic  are  to  be 
read,  from  which  we  select  one  of  especial  interest, 
because  relating  to  one  of  Luther's  most  trusted 
friends  and  co-labourers  in  later  years.  Frederick 
Myconius  resided  at  Annaberg  during  Tetzel's 
earlier  activity,  when  for  two  years  he  preached  in- 
dulgences daily.  At  last  a  time  came  when  he  an- 
nounced that  the  cross  was  to  be  removed  and  the 
gates  of  Heaven  closed  forever.  "  Now,"  he  ex- 
claimed, "  is  the  acceptable  time;  now  is  the  day  of 
salvation."  Plenary  indulgences  were  offered  at  a 
reduced  rate,  with  the  generous  codicil :  Pauperibus 

1  One  out  of  numerous  examples,  most  of  them  confirmed  by 
documentary  proofs,  in  Loescher.  This  passage  is  in  i.,  420  sq. 


66  Martin  Luther  [1483- 

gratis  propter  Deum  ("  To  the  poor,  gratuitously, 
for  God's  sake  ").  Myconius,  who  had  been  better 
taught  concerning  the  free  grace  of  God  in  Christ 
than  most  of  the  youth  of  his  time,  at  the  last  mo- 
ment asked  for  an  indulgence  upon  the  ground  of 
his  poverty,  and  when  he  persisted,  after  many  re- 
fusals, constantly  urging:  "  To  the  poor,  it  is  given 
gratuitously,  for  God's  sake,"  the  money  was  placed 
in  his  hands  by  the  deputies,  who  could  not  escape 
his  importunity,  and  who,  at  the  same  time,  did  not 
wish  to  admit  a  precedent  that  threatened  so  seri- 
ously to  diminish  the  receipts.  But  Myconius  had 
the  courage  to  reject  the  offer,  pleading  that  he  asked 
for  the  indulgence  gratuitously,  or  not  at  all.1 

During  his  visitation  of  the  cloisters,  in  the  spring 
of  1516,  Luther  had  heard  of  Tetzel's  proceedings, 
and,  in  a  sermon  on  the  Tenth  Sunday  after  Trinity, 
had  taken  occasion  to  give  a  warning.  How  gradu- 
ally he  reached  his  conclusions  is  seen  from  the  fact 
that,  in  this  sermon,  he  rejects  not  indulgences, 
but  their  abuse.  What  should  be  regarded  with  all 
reverence,  he  says,  has  become  a  horrid  means  of 
pampering  avarice,  since  it  is  not  the  salvation  of 
souls,  but  solely  pecuniary  profit  that  is  in  view. 
The  people  are  taught  not  concerning  the  forgive- 
ness of  sins,  but  only  concerning  the  remission  of 
the  penances,  as  though  when  these  be  paid,  the 
soul  immediately  flies  to  Heaven.  "  Besides,  there 
is  no  foundation  for  the  doctrine  that,  by  such  in- 

1  Loescher's  Vollstandige  Reformations  Aeta,  Leipzig,  1720,  i.,  405, 
gives  the  account  written  by  Myconius  in  1546.  Cf.  Adam's  Vita 
Thtologorum,  p.  ia. 


i5i7]  The  XCV  Theses  67 

dulgences,  souls  are  redeemed  from  Purgatory.  For 
the  Pope  is  cruel  if  he  do  not  grant  poor  souls  gra- 
tuitously what  can  be  granted  on  the  payment  of 
money  needed  by  the  Church."  If  no  one  can  be 
certain  whether  he  be  himself  sufficiently  contrite 
and  have  confessed  sufficiently,  much  less  can  he  be 
so  as  to  others.  How,  then,  can  he  assert  that  the 
soul  of  one  for  whom  indulgences  have  been  procured 
is  immediately  released  from  Purgatory  ?  The  ser- 
mon ends  with  an  appeal  against  treating  indulg- 
ences so  that  they  administer  only  to  cherishing 
spiritual  security  and  indifference.1 

In  a  sermon,  preached  just  one  year  before  his 
theses  that  provoked  the  crisis,  viz.,  on  October  31, 
1516,  Luther  is,  if  possible,  still  more  explicit.  He 
speaks  of  the  seducers  who  are  misleading  the  people, 
and  announces  that  the  "  parade  of  indulgences  is 
at  the  very  doors."  The  intention  of  the  Pope  is 
justified  ;  but  the  charge  is  made  that  his  words  have 
been  misinterpreted.  Revising  the  definition  of 
penitence,  he  distributes  it  into  two  parts,  viz.,  of 
the  sign  and  of  the  thing.  Penitence  of  the  thing, 
i.  e.,  actual  penitence,  is  inner  penitence  of  the 
heart,  and  is  the  only  true  penitence.  That  of  the 
sign  is  the  exterior  penitence,  occurring  frequently 
when  the  interior  is  feigned,  and  has  two  parts,  con- 
fession and  satisfaction. 

"  To  jurists  I  refer  the  proof  as  to  where  confession 
and  satisfaction,  as  now  used,  are  commanded  by  Divine 

'Weimar  edition  of  Luther's  works  (subsequently  referred  to  as 
Weimar),  i.,  65-69;  Op.  var,  arg.,  i.,  101-104, 


68  Martin  Luther  [1483- 

law  ;  for  the  satisfaction  prescribed  by  John  (Luke  iii.) 
belongs  to  the  entire  Christian  life.  Indulgences  imply 
that  there  has  been  true  contrition  ;  but  remove  nothing 
except  impositions  of  purely  private  significance.  Hence 
it  is  to  be  feared  that  indulgences  conspire  against  inner 
penitence.  One  who  is  truly  penitent  wants,  if  possible, 
every  creature  to  see  and  hate  his  sin,  and  he  is  ready  to 
be  trodden  under  foot  by  all.  He  seeks  not  for  indulg- 
ences and  remissions  of  penalties,  but  for  exactions  of 
penalties." ' 

In  a  sermon  of  February  24,  1517,  he  grows  in 
severity.  Indulgences,  he  declares,  are  teaching  the 
people  to  dread  the  punishment  of  sin,  instead  of 
sin  itself.  If  it  were  not  to  escape  the  punishment 
for  sin,  no  one  would  care  about  indulgences,  even 
if  offered  gratuitously.  Such  punishment  should 
rather  be  sought  for ;  the  people  should  be  exhorted 
to  embrace  the  cross.  He  ends  with  the  words :  "  O 
the  dangers  of  our  times !  O  ye  slumbering  priests ! 
O  darkness  denser  than  that  of  Egypt !  How  secure 
are  we  in  these  extreme  evils !  "  a 

The  Elector  Frederick,  although  in  a  far  less 
offensive  way,  had  provided  for  the  sale  of  indulg- 
ences in  connection  with  visits  to  the  relics  he  had 
gathered  in  1493  in  the  Holy  Land,  as  a  partial 
source  of  revenue  for  the  Castle  Church  and  cloister. 
The  5005  relics  that  were  treasured  in  the  Castle 
Church  were  said  to  give  one  hundred  days'  indulg- 
ence each,  if  properly  worshipped,  /.  e.,  1371  years 
and  85  days,  if  all  were  thus  used.  These  vigorous 

1  Weimar,  i.,  94-99  ;  Of.  var.  arg.,  i.,  177-184. 
*  Weimar,  i.,  138-141. 


isi7]  The  XCV  Theses  69 

words  of  Luther,  Frederick  therefore  regarded  as, 
at  least,  indiscreet.  But  as  Tetzel  drew  near  Wit- 
tenberg, attracting  large  numbers  of  its  inhabitants 
to  his  preaching,  and  as  some  over  whom  Luther  had 
spiritual  jurisdiction  sought  to  excuse  themselves 
from  worshipping  the  relics  by  the  presentation  of 
letters,  which  they  had  procured  at  Jueterbock  and 
Zerbst,  he  could  not,  by  silence,  connive  at  what 
would  have  carried  with  it  the  violation  of  his  fidelity 
as  a  spiritual  guide  and  of  his  oath  as  a  Doctor  of 
the  Holy  Scriptures.  Ignorant  of  the  pecuniary 
interest  of  the  Archbishop  of  Magdeburg  in  the 
sale,  Luther,  in  his  simplicity,  appealed  to  Albrecht 
to  prohibit  Tetzel's  further  activity ;  and,  when  his 
letter  remained  unanswered,  a  second  appeal  was 
made  to  his  bishop,  viz.,  of  Brandenburg,  by  whom 
he  was  warned  of  the  danger  of  arraying  himself 
against  the  Pope.  But  the  widespread  dissatis- 
faction with  Tetzel's  extravagances  expressed  itself 
in  frequent  complaints  and  appeals  from  friends  and 
others  who  sought  his  advice.  Among  them  was 
his  spiritual  father,  Staupitz.  The  matter  could  not 
rest  until  some  solution  of  the  problem  would  be 
reached.  There  was  an  expectation  that  a  crisis 
was  approaching,  but  no  one  could  tell  when  or 
where  it  would  come. 

On  the  night  of  October  30,  1517,  according  to 
Spalatin,  the  Elector  tarried  at  Schweinitz,  and  in 
the  morning  of  the  next  day  committed  to  writing 
an  account  of  a  dream,  which  he  said  he  could 
never  forget,  even  though  he  were  to  live  a  thou- 
sand years.  He  had  seen  a  monk,  a  son  of  the 


70  Martin  Luther  [i483- 

Apostle  Paul,  and  commissioned  as  a  special  mes- 
senger from  Heaven,  writing  upon  the  door  of 
the  Castle  Church  at  Wittenberg,  in  letters  so  large 
that  they  could  be  read  at  Schweinitz,  twelve  miles 
away  to  the  east,  and  with  a  goose  quill  one  hundred 
years  old,  of  such  length  that  it  reached  Rome,  pierc- 
ing first  the  ear  of  a  lion,  that  roared  with  pain,  and 
then  striking  the  triple  crown  of  the  Pope,  so  that  it 
almost  fell  from  his  head.  This  pen  was  readily  ap- 
plied, after  the  Reformation  began,  to  John  Hus, 
whose  name  means  "  a  goose,"  and  who  had  suffered 
martyrdom  about  one  hundred  years  before.  Al- 
though attested  by  the  Elector's  own  private  secre- 
tary, the  correspondence  with  facts  is  so  close  that 
it  has  brought  this  story  into  discredit.  Why  may 
it  not  have  been  the  product  of  the  "  Wise  "  Elect- 
or's waking  thoughts  concerning  the  impending 
conflict,  and  the  part  that  one  of  his  most  distin- 
guished subjects  was  to  bear  in  it  ? 

The  signal  was  at  last  given.  The  circumstances 
were  not  such  as  Luther  had  chosen.  Nothing  sen- 
sational marked  the  hour.  Notwithstanding  his  ex- 
traordinary popular  gifts,  he  was  no  agitator,  and 
did  not  move  more  rapidly  than  Providence  opened 
clearly  the  way.  On  Fridays  the  theologians  at 
Wittenberg  were  accustomed,  in  regular  order,  to 
conduct  theological  discussions,  and  to  prepare  and 
post  up  in  advance  the  theses  which,  on  a  given 
date,  they  were  ready  to  discuss.  Sometimes  circu- 
lated among  scholars  in  other  universities,  in  order 
to  give  the  discussion  still  greater  publicity,  the 
form  of  a  placard  was  adopted,  that  this  purpose 


i5i7]  The  XCV  Theses  71 

might  be  served.  The  current  statement,  that  the 
eve  of  All  Saints'  Day  was  chosen  in  order  to  attract 
greater  attention  to  the  subject,  is  not  borne  out  by 
the  facts.  The  document  which  Luther  prepared  and 
that  at  once  gained  a  universal  hearing,  was  wr'tten 
not  in  the  German,  but  in  the  Latin  language.  It 
was  not  for  the  people,  but  for  the  consideration  of 
scholars  and  students.  Nor  had  it  in  view  any  circle 
beyond  that  at  Wittenberg  ;  until  recently,  it  has 
been  universally  held  that  the  Theses  were  posted 
up  in  Luther's  manuscript.  Intimate  friends  who 
afterwards  expressed  surprise  that  Luther  should 
have  omitted  them  in  the  distribution,  were  in- 
formed that  it  was  neither  his  intention  nor  his 
wish  that  the  Theses  should  be  noticed,  except  by 
a  very  few  at  Wittenberg,  with  whom  he  wanted 
to  have  a  comparison  of  views,  and  by  a  limited 
number  elsewhere  whose  written  criticisms  he 
invited. 

It  was,  according  to  Melanchthon,  about  noon, 
when  the  Theses  were  attached  to  the  door  of  the 
Castle  Church,  whether  by  Luther  himself  or  by 
someone  commissioned  for  the  work  we  are  not  in- 
formed. As  the  church  was  supported  largely  from 
the  revenue  of  indulgences,  and  All  Saints'  Day  was 
the  anniversary  of  its  consecration,  the  eve  of  the 
festival  seems  to  have  been  aptly  chosen,  just  as  one 
year  before  Luther  had  selected  the  same  festival  for 
a  sermon  on  the  same  subject.  The  responsibility 
rested  upon  him  alone,  and  he  took  counsel  with 
none  of  his  intimate  friends.  Nevertheless,  appre- 
ciating the  seriousness  of  the  step  he  had  taken,  be. 


72  Martin  Luther 

fore  he  went  to  rest  that  night,  he  promptly  informed 
his  archbishop  of  the  fact,  transmitting,  with  a  most 
humble  letter,  a  copy  of  the  Theses,  as  well  as  of  the 
sermon  preached  that  evening. 

The  other  theses  are  only  an  expansion  of  the 
thought    with     which    the     whole    series    begins. 

'  When  our  Lord  and  Master,  Jesus  Christ,  says, 
4  Repent,'  He  means  that  the  entire  life  of  believers 
should  be  a  repentance."  In  these  words,  he  ap- 
peals from  the  scholastic  to  the  Scriptural  meaning 
of  the  expression  rendered  in  the  Vulgate  translation 
of  Matthew  iii.,  2:  "  Poenitentiam  agite"  These 
words  of  John  the  Baptist,  although  generally  inter- 
preted, 44  Do  penance,"  meant  more  than  any  act 
or  series  of  satisfactions,  and  comprised  a  complete 
revolution  of  thought,  heart,  mind,  and  will,  that 
can  never  be  ended  while  life  lasts.  Be  the  explan- 
ation of  the  Church  teachers  what  it  may,  the  great 
question  to  be  answered  is:  4<  What  does  the  Lord 
Jesus  say  ?  "  From  the  obligation  to  such  duty  no 
one  could  be  discharged.  There  is  no  price  that 
could  be  paid  for  a  release.  Thus  the  root  of  the 
practice  of  indulgences  is  cut  at  one  blow,  the  in- 
evitable conclusion  being  that  of  the  second  thesis : 

'  This  word,"  viz.,  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  4<  cannot  be 
understood  of  sacramental  penance,  i.  e.,  of  confes- 
sion and  satisfaction  as  celebrated  by  the  ministry  of 
priests."  The  fallacy  of  the  sale  of  papal  indulg- 
ences is  exposed  by  the  statement  that  the  Pope  can 
remit  no  penalties  except  those  which  he  has  him- 
self imposed,  and  hence  that  he  is  powerless  with 
respect  to  any  penalties  due  Divine  justice.  Priests 


i5i7]  The  XCV  Theses  73 

have  no  authority  to  reserve  some  penalties  for  Pur- 
gatory. Death  brings  immunity  from  all  canonical 
requirements,  and  the  Pope,  therefore,  can  remit  no 
penalty  to  souls  in  Purgatory.  If  the  Pope  have 
the  power  to  deliver  souls  from  Purgatory,  why  does 
he  not  exercise  it  out  of  Christian  love,  instead  of 
demanding  money  with  which  to  build  a  church  ? 
Or  why  does  he  not,  from  his  enormous  wealth,  buy 
the  release  of  souls  in  torment  ?  Notice  is  taken  of 
various  extravagant  statements  that  have  accom- 
panied the  preaching  of  indulgences.  Eternal  pun- 
ishment is  declared  to  be  the  lot  of  those  who  rely 
upon  letters  of  indulgence  for  their  salvation.  The 
truly  contrite  and  believing  are  proclaimed  as  need- 
ing no  resort  to  such  an  expedient.  "  Every  Chris- 
tian, truly  contrite,  has  full  remission  from  both 
punishment  and  guilt,  even  without  letters  of  indulg- 
ence."  "  Every  true  Christian,  whether  alive  or 
dead,  has  participation  in  all  the  blessings  of  Christ 
and  the  Church,  granted  him  by  God,  even  without 
letters  of  indulgence."  The  Pope  is  regarded  as 
esteeming  works  of  mercy  far  more  highly  than  the 
diversion  of  money  from  such  purpose  to  that  of  this 
trade.  The  man  who,  neglecting  the  appeal  of 
those  in  actual  need,  devotes  his  means  to  the  pur- 
chase of  indulgences,  is  declared  to  incur  the  anger 
of  God.  The  treasures  of  Christ  and  the  saints  be- 
long to  Christians  before  and  without  any  indulg- 
ences. The  true  treasure  of  the  Church  is  the  Holy 
Gospel  of  the  grace  and  glory  of  God.  "  Cursed  be 
he  who  speaks  against  the  truth  of  Apostolical  in- 
dulgences," i.  e.,  against  the  Gospel.  "  Blessed  is 


74  Martin  Luther  [i483- 

he  who  opposes  the  lust  and  licence  of  the  words  of 
a  preacher  of  indulgences."  ' 

In  Latin,  the  English  words  "  Repentance"  and 
"  Penance  "  are  designated  by  the  one  term,  "  Pce- 
nitentia."  Luther's  effort,  in  the  Theses,  is  to 
separate  the  two  conceptions.  "  Repentance,"  in 
the  biblical  sense,  is  the  inner  dissatisfaction  with 
self,  on  account  of  sin,  combined  with  the  sincere 
purpose  to  conform  both  the  inner  and  outward  life 
to  the  Divine  will.  But  "  Penances,"  which  Luther 
is  not  yet  ready  to  entirely  repudiate,  refer  alto- 
gether to  certain  external  pledges  of  the  sincerity  of 
repentance,  which,  in  his  opinion,  the  Church  could 
require,  as  a  matter  of  discipline  and  order,  but  on 
no  other  grounds.  From  such  ecclesiastical  appoint- 
ments the  Pope  could  give  a  release,  but  from  no 
penalties  pertaining  to  the  life  beyond.  Neither 
could  the  Pope  release  any  one  from  works  of  Chris- 
tian love,  even  though  the  means  so  diverted  were 
applied  to  ecclesiastical  purposes. 

That  night,  in  the  chapel  of  the  Augustinian  clois- 
ter, he  preached  a  trenchant  sermon,  presenting  the 
same  subject  in  German,  and  in  a  less  technical  and 
more  popular  form.  The  outline,  as  afterwards 
published,  gives  evidently  only  notes  prepared  be- 
forehand. Among  other  things,  it  declares  that 
the  analysis  of  the  elements  of  "  repentance  "  by 
Thomas  Aquinas  and  his  followers,  although  not 
found  in  Scripture,  might  be  conceded.  Neverthe- 


1  Theses  in  Op.  var.  arg.,  i.,  285  sq q. ;  Weimar,  i.,  229  sqq.  ; 
Loescher,  i.,  438  sqq.  English  translation  in  Wace  and  Buchheim's 
First  Principles  of  the  Reformation,  pp.  6-14. 


i5i7]  The  XCV  Theses  75 

less  these  teachers  were  careful  to  declare  that  the 
"  satisfaction  "  is  of  service  only  where  the  two 
preceding  parts  are  present.  The  satisfaction  they 
distribute  into  three  parts,  viz.,  prayer,  fasting,  and 
alms;  the  former  comprising  also  all  works  of  the 
soul,  as  the  hearing,  preaching,  and  teaching  of 
God's  word,  etc.  ;  the  second,  all  mortifications  of 
the  flesh,  as  vigils,  the  use  of  a  hard  bed,  rough 
clothing;  and  the  last,  all  works  of  love  and  mercy 
for  one's  neighbour.  Not  a  single  passage  of  Scrip- 
ture can  be  found,  declaring  that  God's  justice 
makes  any  other  requirement  than  true  and  heart- 
felt sorrow,  combined  with  the  purpose  to  bear  here- 
after the  cross  of  Christ.  A  thousand  times  better 
would  it  be,  if  a  Christian  were  to  desire  no  in- 
dulgence, but  would  cheerfully  do  all  the  appointed 
works,  and  suffer  all  the  appointed  pain,  since  indulg- 
ence means  exemption  from  good  works  and  salu- 
tary suffering.  The  plea  that  such  works  and 
suffering  exceed  man's  power  cannot  be  urged, 
since  neither  God  nor  the  Holy  Church  will  lay 
upon  anyone  more  than  he  can  bear  (i  Cor.  x.,  13). 
It  is  only  for  the  sake  of  indolent  and  imperfect 
Christians  that  indulgences  are  allowed.  Far  better 
to  make  a  contribution  towards  the  building  of  St. 
Peter's  as  a  present,  than  that  it  should  reach  the 
same  end  as  the  compensation  for  an  indulgence. 
A  most  serious  interference  with  good  works  are  in- 
dulgences. Indigent  persons  nearest  to  us  demand 
the  first  care.  If  in  one's  own  city  there  be  no  poor 
people,  contributions  to  churches,  altars,  etc.,  in 
that  city  are  in  place.  When  their  necessities  are 


76  Martin  Luther  [1517 

provided  for,  then,  according  to  I  Tim.  v.,  8,  the  turn 
of  St.  Peter  comes.  "  If  to  this,  however,  the  ob- 
jection be  made  that  this  will  effectually  prevent  all 
purchase  of  indulgences,  my  answer  is  that  my 
advice  is  against  such  purchase.  They  may  well  be 
left  to  lazy  and  sleepy  Christians. ' '  The  probability 
of  a  charge  of  heresy  is  anticipated  as  likely  to  fol- 
low at  the  instance  of  stupid  men,  who  have  never 
read  the  Bible,  and  who  are  notorious  for  judging  a 
case  before  giving  it  a  hearing.1 

1  Weimar,  i.,  239  sqq.  ;  Op.  var.  arg.,  i.,  326  sqq.  In  fixing  the 
date  we  have  followed  Knaake's  introduction  to  this  sermon  in  Weimar 
edition. 


ERASMUS. 


CHAPTER   II 

THE   RECEPTION   OF  THE  THESES  AND  THE 
HEIDELBERG   CONFERENCE 

CROWDS  of  eager  students  may  have  gathered 
for  hours  before  the  door  of  the  Castle  Church, 
intent  upon  reading  and  copying  the  sensation  of 
the  day,  but  this  indicated  no  general  approval,  at 
that  time  and  place,  of  the  aggressive  character  of 
the  Theses.  The  first  effect  upon  those  nearest 
Luther  was  stunning.  Whatever  their  abhorrence 
of  the  methods  of  Tetzel,  and  their  dissatisfaction 
with  the  whole  system  which  admitted  such  mani- 
fest abuses,  the  impression  was  that  he  had  spoken 
unadvisedly.  His  colleagues  were  apprehensive  of 
the  result  for  the  University.  Carlstadt  withheld 
his  approval,  and  Dr.  Schurf  of  the  legal  faculty 
expostulated  with  him.  The  Augustinian  monks 
saw  the  stake  in  the  foreground,  and  dreaded  the 
disgrace  which  the  presence  among  them  of  a  second 
Savonarola  would  cast  upon  their  Order;  while  his 

77 


78  Martin  Luther  [1483- 

former  teachers  and  associates  at  Erfurt  lamented 
the  pride,  which  they  thought  could  be  read  in  his 
vigorous  sentences.  Repelling  these  charges  in  a 
letter  to  Lange,  the  prior  at  Erfurt,  he  writes:  "  If 
the  work  be  of  God,  who  shall  prevent  it  ?  If  it  be 
of  man,  who  shall  promote  it  ?  Not  my  will,  nor 
their  will,  nor  our  will,  but  Thy  will,  O  Holy  Father, 
be  done !  "  As  the  expression  of  his  confidence  and 
calmness,  he  signs  the  letter  "  F.  Martinus  Eleuthe- 
rius,  Augustiniensis  "  ;  thus,  in  the  play  upon  his 
name  (i.  e.,  "  the  liberated  "),  asserting  that,  by  his 
apprehension  of  the  fact  of  his  sonship  with  God,  he 
has  become  the  Lord's  freeman.1 

His  remarks  of  self-depreciation  and  the  con- 
temptuous slurs  of  opponents  must  not  be  inter- 
preted as  indicating  that  when  he  entered  upon  the 
contest  he  was  an  unknown  and  insignificant  monk. 
Throughout  a  large  portion  of  Germany  his  attain- 
ments were  already  conceded,  as  his  rank  in  his 
Order  and  his  position  in  the  University  show. 
Even  though,  for  the  moment,  he  stood  alone  at 
Wittenberg,  the  Theses,  or  their  general  contents, 
were  immediately  circulated  through  the  channels 
of  communication  between  the  various  universities; 
and  from  them,  as  centres,  in  all  directions.  It  was 
a  live  subject  of  which  they  treated.  The  most 
pressing  question  of  the  hour  was  here  answered. 
The  revulsion  of  the  general  Christian  feeling  to  the 
indulgence  traffic  had  found  clearest  expression. 
Men  were  only  waiting  for  some  one  to  speak  the 
first  word ;  and  this  had  now  been  done.  But  more 

'  De  Wette,  i :  73. 


i5i8]     The  Reception  of  the  Theses       79 

had  been  said  than  they  had  anticipated.  New 
thoughts  of  the  greatest  moment  and  the  most  far- 
reaching  consequences  had  been  suggested.  The 
antagonisms  hitherto  felt  and  the  protests  made  had 
been  directed  to  the  more  superficial  aspects  of  the 
subject.  New  relations  come  to  view,  as  the  founda- 
tions and  consequences  of  the  teaching  by  which 
indulgences  were  supported,  are  brought  to  examin- 
ation. The  Theses  are  more  than  a  series  of  nega- 
tions; they  offer  the  positive  teaching  needed  for 
the  rest  of  the  soul.  Hence  the  words  of  approval 
rising  from  many  widely  separated  quarters,  and 
quickly  sent  back  to  encourage  and  strengthen  weak 
hearts  at  Wittenberg.  "  In  fourteen  days,"  says 
Luther,  "  they  flew  all  over  Germany."  "  In  four 
weeks,"  says  his  cotemporary,  Myconius,  "  they 
were  diffused  throughout  all  Christendom,  as  though 
the  angels  were  the  postmen." 

The  result  was  unexpected  and  even  startling  to 
the  author.  Prepared,  as  they  had  been,  for  a  small 
circle,  the  Theses  would  have  been  differently  framed 
if  he  had  anticipated  the  extent  of  their  influence. 
On  some  of  the  topics  presented  he  was  not  yet  fully 
clear,  and  was  earnestly  seeking  light  through  a  possi- 
ble discussion.  But  they  were  no  longer  his  property. 

Among  those  who  responded  favourably  was  the 
preacher,  Dr.  Fleck,  whose  discourse  at  the  inaugu- 
ration of  the  University  contained  the  famous  play 
upon  the  name  Wittenberg,  as  the ' '  berg, ' '  or  mount 
of  "  wit"  or  wisdom.  Reading  the  Theses,  he  ex- 
claimed, "  Well,  the  man  has  at  last  come!"  and 
immediately  sent  to  Luther  a  letter  of  approval. 


8o  Martin  Luther  [i483- 

Meanwhile  the  opposition  was  also  gathering  its 
forces.  Whether  the  Archbishop  of  Mayence  ever 
received  the  letter  written  by  Luther  that  evening 
is  a  question.  But  the  circumstances  are  promptly 
reported  by  his  deputies,  and  his  anxiety  as  to  the 
effect  upon  his  revenue  is  excited.  At  the  advice 
of  the  theologians  and  jurists  of  the  University  of 
Mayence,  he  issues  on  the  I3th  of  December  "  an 
inhibitory  process  "  against  Luther,  sends  a  copy 
of  the  Theses  to  the  Pope,  with  the  request  that 
prompt  measures  be  taken  to  resist  the  spread  of 
such  teaching,  and  seeks  to  remove  some  of  the 
complaints  against  the  sale  of  indulgences,  by  in- 
structions to  the  subordinates  of  Tetzel  to  discon- 
tinue some  of  the  practices  that  have  given  most 
offence.  But,  blind  to  the  real  principle  involved, 
he  provides  at  the  same  time  for  an  extension  of 
the  territory  for  the  traffic. 

Tetzel  also  is  aroused,  and,  in  order  that  he  may 
reply  to  Luther,  receives  at  the  close  of  the  year 
the  degree  of  a  licentiate,  and  shortly  afterwards 
that  of  a  Doctor  of  Theology.  Luther's  sermon  on 
indulgences,  of  the  same  date  as  the  Theses,  was  not 
published  until  the  succeeding  March,  the  Bishop  of 
Brandenburg  having  treated  Luther  with  more  con- 
sideration than  the  Archbishop,  and  sent  the  Abbot 
of  Lenin  to  Wittenberg,  with  the  special  request, 
which  Luther  for  a  long  time  respected,  that  he 
should  refrain  from  its  publication.  But  as  the  sub- 
ject became  one  of  general  notoriety,  the  time  came 
when  he  felt  that  no  such  restriction  should  be  ob- 
served. When  published,  it  evoked  an  early  reply 


i5i8]     The  Reception  of  the  Theses       81 

from  Tetzel,  who  carefully  avoids  mentioning  either 
Luther  or  Wittenberg,  but  attempts  to  refute  each 
of  the  twenty  propositions  of  the  sermon.  Prior  to 
this,  however,  in  the  very  last  days  of  1517,  one 
hundred  and  six  theses  were  published  under  the 
name  of  Tetzel,  generally  understood  to  have  been 
composed  by  the  Frankfort  theologian,  Conrad 
Wimpina,  which  were  directed  against  Luther's, 
imitating  closely  their  very  language,  and  were  soon 
followed  by  a  series  of  fifty  more,  bearing  the  same 
character.  When  eight  hundred  copies  of  these 
theses  sent  to  Wittenberg  for  sale  were  seized  by 
the  students  and  publicly  burned,  Luther  expressed 
from  the  pulpit  his  deep  regret  that,  in  their  zeal, 
they  had  resorted  to  such  lawless  methods. 

Besides  the  publication  of  the  sermon  on  indulg- 
ences, heretofore  withheld,  he  attempted  for  the 
present  no  further  contribution  to  the  controversy 
than  a  sermon  upon  repentance.  He  was  prepar- 
ing meanwhile  for  the  gathering  storm  by  the  careful 
elaboration  of  an  explanation  of  the  Theses,  the 
precise  form  of  which,  as  well  as  the  occasion  for  its 
publication,  was  to  be  determined  hereafter.  Calmly 
he  went  about  his  daily  work  as  a  professor,  project- 
ing schemes  for  the  enlargement  of  the  course  of  the 
University,  and  faithfully  preaching  the  word  with 
reference  to  the  individual  wants  of  his  hearers.  His 
correspondence  during  this  period  with  Spalatin,  the 
secretary  and  chaplain  of  the  Elector,  is  interesting. 
The  latter  has  asked  various  perplexing  questions, 
which  Luther  promptly  answers.  One  relates  to 
the  guilt  of  invincible  ignorance;  to  which,  after 

6 


82  Martin  Luther  [i483- 

stating  the  ordinary  scholastic  distinction,  he  replies 
that,  so  far  as  we  are  concerned,  all  ignorance  is  in- 
vincible, while,  so  far  as  the  grace  of  God  is  con- 
cerned, no  ignorance  is  invincible ;  and  that,  there- 
fore, ignorance  is  no  excuse  for  a  sin.  Other- 
wise there  would  be  no  sin  in  the  world.1  In 
another  letter  he  answers  the  question  as  to  how 
many  Marys  are  mentioned  in  the  Gospels,  and 
how  many  women  were  at  the  sepulchre."  He 
undertakes  to  prescribe  for  his  friend  a  course  of 
theological  reading,  warning  him,  with  some  hesi- 
tancy, against  the  extravagant  estimate  Erasmus  has 
placed  upon  Jerome  as  a  Church  teacher.  The  very 
first  thing,  he  says,  is  to  apprehend  the  fact  that  the 
Scriptures  cannot  be  penetrated  by  our  study,  and 
that,  therefore,  prayer  is  the  very  first  requisite. 
Despairing,  thus,  of  our  own  ability,  and  looking 
to  God  for  His  Spirit,  the  next  thing  is  to  read  the 
Bible  through,  from  beginning  to  end,  first  with  re- 
gard to  the  simple  narrative,  in  connection  with 
which  the  reading  of  the  Epistles  of  Jerome  is  ad- 
vised; and  then  with  regard  to  the  knowledge  of 
Christ,  in  which  Augustine  will  be  found  most  serv- 
iceable.* The  Elector,  in  connection  with  a  kind 
intercession  on  behalf  of  Staupitz  and  a  warning 
concerning  new  charges  that  he  may  expect  to  hear 
soon  against  Luther,  is  courteously  reminded  of  a 
promise  to  furnish  his  humble  subject  with  a  new 
coat.  Spiritual  refreshment  he  found  in  the  writing 
of  an  exposition  of  the  One  Hundred  and  Tenth 
Psalm,  which,  after  transmission  to  Spalatin,  was 
1  De  Wette,  I  :  74.  •  Ib,,  80  sq.  3I6.,  88. 


i5i8]     The  Reception  of  the  Theses       83 

sent  by  the  latter  to  the  press,  and  appeared  during 
the  summer  of  1518. 

Early  that  spring  his  academical  labours  were  in- 
terrupted by  a  journey  to  Heidelberg,  to  attend  a 
meeting  of  the  members  of  the  Augustinian  Order, 
which,  as  it  had  no  connection  with  the  controversy, 
afforded  him  great  physical  benefit,  by  the  respite 
it  gave  him  from  the  strain  under  which  he  had  been 
labouring.  Friends  were  apprehensive  of  danger; 
but  he  answered  by  reminding  them  of  his  vow  of 
obedience,  and  declaring  in  reference  to  enemies: 
"  The  more  they  rage,  the  more  I  go  forward."  ' 
The  Elector's  consent  was  obtained  with  some  dif- 
ficulty ;  but  when  Luther  could  not  be  dissuaded 
he  wrote  to  Staupitz,  requesting  that  he  be  not  de- 
tained longer  than  was  necessary,  and  gratefully 
referred  to  the  fact  that  Staupitz  had  recommended 
him  to  the  place  he  was  filling  with  signal  success. 
At  the  same  time,  he  furnished  Luther  with  a  pass- 
port and  with  letters  of  introduction  to  the  Bishop  of 
Wuerzburg,  and  to  the  brother  of  the  Palatinate 
Elector,  whose  residence  was  at  Heidelberg.  On  the 
nth  of  April  Luther  set  out  on  foot  with  an  attend- 
ant, for  whose  services  he  was  not  able  to  pay 
farther  than  Wuerzburg.  His  fame  had  not  brought 
with  it  exemption  from  pecuniary  straits.  In  four 
days  he  reached  Coburg,  where  the  Saxon  treasury 
officials  had  been  instructed  to  provide  for  his  neces- 
sities. Two  days  later  he  was  hospitably  received 
by  Bishop  Lorenz  of  Wuerzburg,  who,  shortly 
before  his  death  in  the  following  year,  wrote  to  the 

1  De  Wette,  i :  101. 


84  Martin  Luther  [i483- 

Elector  concerning  the  favourable  impression  that 
Luther  had  made  during  the  visit.  Here  he  was 
joined  by  his  friend  Lange,  the  prior  at  Erfurt,  and 
other  members  of  his  Order.  Taking  carriages,  they 
reached  Heidelberg  on  the  2 1st,  and  found  a  home 
in  the  Augustinian  monastery.  No  reception  could 
have  been  more  cordial  than  that  which  they  re- 
ceived from  the  Count,  who  showed  them  every 
hospitality,  not  only  because  of  the  letter  from  the 
Elector  Frederick,  but  especially  because  he  was 
himself  an  alumnus  of  Wittenberg,  and  in  1515  had 
been  elected  Rector  of  the  University. 

The  convention  having  adjourned,  after  the  elec- 
tion of  Staupitz  as  Vicar-General,  and  Lange  as 
Provincial  Vicar,  the  usual  custom  of  holding  a 
theological  discussion  before  separating  was  ob- 
served. Luther  was  requested  to  prepare  the  theses 
and  preside  at  the  discussion,  while  the  Augustin- 
ian, Leonard  Beyer,  was  made  the  respondent.  The 
Heidelberg  professors  not  desiring  to  commit  them- 
selves so  far  to  the  endorsement  of  Luther's  position, 
the  conference  was  held,  not  in  the  auditorium  of 
the  University,  but  in  the  Augustinian  monastery. 
The  Count  and  his  friends,  all  the  University  pro- 
fessors, and  many  of  the  students,  besides  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Order,  attended.  The  main  interest,  of 
course,  was  to  hear  Luther  in  his  exposition  of  the 
principles  then  attracting  the  attention  of  all  Christ- 
endom. But  neither  in  the  theses  nor  in  their  de- 
fence did  he  touch  upon  the  question  of  indulgences. 
He  preferred  to  treat  of  the  underlying  principles 
that  had  determined  his  attitude,  and  that,  in  his 


i5i8]     The  Reception  of  the  Theses       85 

opinion,  were  indispensable  to  all  sound  theological 
discussion,  as  well  as  to  all  true  Christian  life.  To 
him  there  were  thoughts  of  still  greater  moment 
than  those  that  had  thus  far  entered  into  public  dis- 
cussion. They  were  the  inability  of  man  to  be 
justified  before  God  by  works  of  the  Law,  man's 
bondage  to  sin,  and  the  absolute  need  of  Divine 
grace.  Even  the  Divine  Law,  he  says,  cannot  pro- 
mote salvation.  How  much  more  impotent  are  the 
works  of  purely  natural  reason!  What  is  it  that 
renders  the  works  of  the  godly  other  than  mortal 
sins,  but  the  fact  that  they  distrust  them  ?  What, 
then,  if  men  trust  in  their  works  ?  "  Sins  are  venial 
before  God,  only  when  dreaded  by  men  as  though 
they  were  mortal."  "A  man  who  imagines  that  he 
attains  grace  by  doing  according  to  his  power,  only 
adds  one  sin  to  another."  "  Man  must  utterly  de- 
spair of  self,  in  order  to  be  prepared  for  the  reception 
of  the  grace  of  God."  '  The  Law  says:  '  Do  this,' 
and  it  is  never  done.  Grace  says :  '  Believe  in  Him,' 
and,  lo,  all  is  done."  '  The  love  of  God  does  not 
find,  but  it  makes  one  worthy  of  the  grace  of  God." 
To  twenty-eight  such  theses,  twelve  on  philosoph- 
ical questions  were  added,  in  which  he  seeks  to  find 
a  more  correct  philosophical  method  for  theological 
discussions  than  had  heretofore  prevailed,  contrast- 
ing Aristotle  with  Plato,  etc.,  and  entering  a  field 
into  which  he  never  advanced  farther.  It  is  doubt- 
ful whether  any  time  was  actually  given  in  the  con- 
ference to  these  latter  theses.1 

Although  the  Heidelberg  theologians  were  still 

1  Op.  var.  arg.,  i.,  387  sqq.  ;  Weimar,  i.,  353  sqq. 


86  Martin  Luther  [i483- 

ardent  adherents  of  the  scholastic  theology,  the 
best  spirit  marked  the  debate.  Strange  as  his 
position  appeared,  they  treated  Luther  with  all 
courtesy,  and  he,  in  turn,  appreciated  their  consid- 
eration and  admired  their  acuteness.  Only  one  re- 
mark formed  an  exception,  when  one  of  the  younger 
professors  addressed  Luther,  "  If  the  rustics  hear 
such  remarks  from  you,  they  will  stone  you." 

None  in  the  audience  were  more  interested  in  the 
proceedings  than  a  group  of  young  men,  whose 
minds  had  for  some  time  been  exercised  on  the 
themes  under  discussion.  Among  them  was  John 
Brentz,  then  nineteen  years  old,  afterwards  to  be- 
come the  Reformer  of  Wuerttemburg  ;  Erhard 
Schnepf,  then  twenty-three,  afterwards  professor  at 
Jena;  Theobald  Billicanus,  the  Reformer  of  Noerd- 
lingen  ;  and  Martin  Bucer,  a  young  Dominican  monk, 
who,  although  a  member  of  the  same  Order  as  Tet- 
zel,  was  an  accomplished  scholar  and  a  youth  of  deep 
earnestness.  A  letter  of  Bucer,  written  directly 
afterwards,  is  full  of  the  glow  of  admiration  that 
the  discussion  had  infused,  and  gives  a  summary  of 
Luther's  treatment  of  each  of  the  theses  that  were 
reached. 

"With  all  the  force  that  our  leaders  brought  to  bear 
against  him,  they  were  not  able  with  their  quibbles  to 
move  him  even  a  finger's  breadth.  It  is  astonishing,  with 
what  amenity  he  answers,  with  what  incomparable  pa- 
tience he  listens  to  his  opponents,  and  with  what  genuine 
Pauline,  not  Scotist,  acuteness,  he  unties  the  knots  of 
objections,  so  that  by  his  brief  and  forcible  answers 


JOHN  BRENTZ. 

FROM  AN  OLD  ENGRAVING. 


i5i8]     The  Reception  of  the  Theses       87 

derived  likewise  from  the  treasure  of  Holy  Scripture,  he 
easily  won  the  admiration  of  all."  * 

After  the  discussion  these  students  conferred  with 
Luther.  He  accepted  Bucer's  invitation  to  a  meal, 
during  which  they  were  alone,  and  had  ample  op- 
portunity for  the  freest  conversation.  Bucer  makes 
the  significant  remark:  "  In  all  things  he  agrees 
with  Erasmus ;  only  that  what  Erasmus  merely  sug- 
gests, he  teaches  plainly.* 

Leaving  Heidelberg  in  the  beginning  of  May,  his 
return  was  not  as  fatiguing  as  his  journey  thither 
had  been,  for  his  friends  saw  to  it  that  he  rode  the 
entire  distance  back.  During  part  of  the  way  he 
had  the  company  of  one  of  his  former  teachers  at 
Erfurt,  Dr.  Usingen,  and  used  all  his  powers  of 
persuasion  to  win  him  over.  "  I  left  him,"  he  says,1 
"  thinking  and  wondering,"  and  concludes  that 
little  hope  can  be  entertained  of  those  who  have 
grown  old  in  their  opinions,  but  that  it  is  with  the 
rising  generation  that  the  best  results  are  to  be  ob- 
tained. During  his  stay  at  Erfurt  he  called  upon 
another  of  his  former  instructors,  Dr.  Jodocus  Trut- 
vetter,  hoping  to  answer  in  person  the  charges  that 
the  latter  had  made  in  a  letter  reproving  him  for  the 
Theses,  and  especially  the  sermon  on  indulgences, 
but  he  was  not  admitted  to  an  interview.  He  im- 


1  Bucer  to  Rhenanus,  in  Gerdesius,  Historia  Reformationis,  i., 
Monumenta,  pp.  176  sq.  Other  documents  of  the  conference  in 
Loescher,  ii.,  40-62. 

*  Gerdesius,  i.,  Monumenta,  p.  78. 

1  DeWette,  i-  112. 


88  Martin  Luther  [1518 

mediately  wrote  a  long  letter,  full  of  affection,  to 
the  man  to  whom  he  confesses  that  he  owes  so  much, 
calmly  denying  some  of  the  matters  with  which  he 
has  been  charged,  and  expressing  the  desire  to  cor- 
respond with  him  at  length  as  to  the  points  involved, 
if  there  be  no  other  way  of  conferring.  But  the 
pupil  had  advanced  too  far  for  his  instructor  when 
he  laid  down  the  sweeping  proposition  that  must 
have  cut  the  adherent  of  Scholasticism  to  the  very 
quick,  in  the  words:  "  I  absolutely  believe  that  it  is 
impossible  to  reform  the  Church,  unless  the  can- 
ons, decretals,  scholastic  theology,  philosophy,  and 
logic,  as  they  are  now,  be  eradicated,  and  other 
studies  be  instituted."1  There  was  a  subsequent 
interview,  but  without  result.  On  the  i$th  of  May 
Luther  is  again  at  home,  with  his  strength  greatly 
renewed  for  the  conflicts  that  are  at  hand. 


1  De  Wette,  1 :   107  sqq. 


HUS. 


LUTHER. 


CHAPTER   III 

ECK,    PRIERIAS,   AND  THE  POPE 

Q  HORTLY  before  Luther's  departure  for  Heidel- 
O  berg  he  was  annoyed  by  an  underhanded  attack 
from  a  man  who  professed  to  be  his  friend,  Dr.  John 
Eck,  of  Ingolstadt.  A  year  before  they  had  been  in- 
troduced by  Scheurl,  and  had  corresponded.  In  his 
"  Obelisks,"  Eck  applied  to  Luther  epithets  justifia- 
ble only  when  every  effort  has  failed  to  convince  an 
opponent  of  his  error.  Luther  was  the  more  indig- 
nant because  he  conceded  the  learning  and  ability 
of  Eck,  and  would  have  been  pleased  to  have  en- 
gaged with  him  in  public  and  honourable  discussion. 
Although  not  caring  to  reply,  his  friends  induced 
him  to  prepare  a  series  of  "  Asterisks,"  as  an  an- 
swer, which  Knaake  has  lately  shown  was  not  pub- 
lished until  in  the  first  collected  edition  of  Luther's 
Works,  but,  like  the  attack  of  Eck,  was  circulated 
in  manuscript.1  During  Luther's  absence,  however, 

1  Op.  var.  arg.,  i.,  406  sqq. ;  Weimar,  i.,  278  sqq. 
89 


90  Martin  Luther  [1483- 

Carlstadt  had  posted  up  theses,  announcing  his  readi- 
ness to  refute  Eck  publicly,  and  a  few  days  later 
received  from  Eck  the  apology,  not  unusual  with 
controversialists,  that  he  was  the  friend  of  both 
Luther  and  Carlstadt,  and  that,  if  he  could  have 
foreseen  that  his  private  writing  would  have  been 
made  so  public,  he  would  have  written  with  much 
greater  care. 

But  the  discussion  soon  extended  beyond  Ger- 
many. The  earliest  reports  sent  to  Rome  by  the 
Archbishop  of  Mayence  made  no  impression  upon 
the  Pope.  Leo  X.,  a  true  humanist,  favoured  the 
utmost  freedom  of  opinion,  so  long  as  the  revenues 
of  the  Papacy  were  not  seriously  affected  or  its 
orderly  government  disturbed.  Secure  in  his  posi- 
tion, and  preoccupied  with  other  subjects,  he  seems 
to  have  been  secretly  amused  at  the  agitation  of 
Albrecht  and  the  Dominicans.  The  entire  contro- 
versy he  looked  upon  as  a  mere  incident  of  monastic 
wrangling.  "  Brother  Martin,"  he  said,  "  has  a 
very  fine  head!"  Luther  heard  the  report  that, 
after  reading  the  Theses,  the  Pope  said  that  they 
had  been  written  by  a  drunken  German,  who  would 
think  differently  after  he  had  become  sober.  So 
simple  a  matter  did  it  seem,  by  a  very  mild  remedy, 
to  heal  the  wound,  that  in  February,  1518,  Leo  in- 
structed the  General  of  the  Augustinians  to  "  pacify 
the  man."  But  the  Dominicans  at  Rome  took  the 
matter  more  seriously.  The  credit  of  their  great 
teacher,  Thomas  Aquinas,  was  at  stake.  In  the 
attack  upon  one  of  their  prominent  brethren,  Tetzel, 
the  Order  itself  had  been  injured.  The  German 


i5i8]       Eck,  Prierias,  and  the  Pope        91 

Dominicans  clamoured  for  active  measures.  The 
effort  to  arouse  Leo  from  his  indifference  was  made 
by  Silvester  Mazzolini,  generally  called,  from  his 
native  place,  Prierias,  the  official  censor,  a  Domin- 
ican learned  in  St.  Thomas.  An  attack  upon  the 
Theses  was  published  in  June,  and  received  by 
Luther  in  August.  Luther  acknowledges  that  on 
its  reception  he  was  terrified,  because  of  the  high 
rank  of  his  critic ;  but  when  he  undertook  to  read  it, 
its  superficiality  amused  him  to  such  an  extent,  that 
he  concluded  that  the  best  way  to  reply  would  be  to 
republish  it.  The  edition  being  immediately  ab- 
sorbed after  publication,  he  inferred  that  the  Domin- 
icans had  bought  it  up,  and  therefore  again  reprinted 
it,  this  time  with  an  answer.1 

Prierias  entered  upon  the  work  with  much  preten- 
sion, referring  to  the  weight  of  his  years  and  the 
extraordinary  circumstances  that  had  rendered  it 
necessary  for  him  to  enter  the  field,  but,  in  order  to 
show  how  easily  Luther  could  be  answered,  boasted 
that  he  had  written  his  pamphlet  within  three  days. 
His  entire  strength  is  applied  to  the  work  of  testing 
Luther's  statements  according  to  the  theology  of 
Thomas,  with  vapid  declamations  against  every 
questioning  of  such  authority  as  final.  Four  propo- 
sitions concerning  the  nature  of  the  Church,  a  topic 
which,  as  Prierias  correctly  apprehended,  was  funda- 
mental to  the  controversy,  introduce  the  discussion. 
He  precedes  by  three  centuries  and  a  half  the  de- 
cree of  the  Vatican  Council  concerning  papal  infal- 
libility. 

1  Op.  var.  arg.,  ii.,  i  sqq.  ;  Weimar,  i.,  647  sqq. 


92  Martin  Luther  [i483- 

.  "  i.  The  Church  Universal  is  essentially  the  assembly 
for  worship,  of  all  believers  in  Christ.  But  the  Church 
Universal  is  virtually  the  Church  of  Rome,  the  head  of 
all  the  churches,  and  the  Pope.  The  Roman  Church  is 
representatively  the  college  of  cardinals  ;  but  virtually 
it  is  the  Pope,  who  is  Head  of  the  Church,  although 
otherwise  than  Christ.  2.  Just  as  the  Church  Universal 
cannot  err  in  deciding  concerning  faith  and  morals,  so 
also  a  true  council,  acting  according  to  its  end,  viz.,  to 
understand  truth,  and  including  its  Head,  cannot  finally 
err.  Although,  for  a  time,  it  may  be  deceived,  neverthe- 
less, as  long  as  the  motive  to  inquire  after  the  truth  re- 
main, even  although  it  sometimes  err,  it  shall  at  length, 
through  the  Holy  Spirit,  have  the  correct  understanding 
of  the  truth.  Thus,  neither  the  Roman  Church  nor  its 
Pope  can  err,  when  he  decides  concerning  that  with 
respect  to  which  he  is  Pope,  /.  <?.,  when  he  makes  official 
declarations  and  acts  for  the  understanding  of  the  truth. 
3.  Whoever  does  not  rest  upon  the  doctrine  of  the 
Roman  Church  and  the  Roman  Pope,  as  an  infallible 
rule  of  faith,  from  which  even  the  Holy  Scriptures  derive 
their  authority,  is  a  heretic.  4.  The  Roman  Church  can 
determine  anything  concerning  faith  and  life,  by  deed  as 
well  as  by  word.  The  only  difference  is  that  words  are 
more  precise.  Custom,  therefore,  contains  the  force  of 
law,  because  the  will  of  a  ruler  is  expressed  in  deeds, 
permissively  or  effectively.  As  a  heretic,  therefore,  is 
one  who  thinks  incorrectly  concerning  the  truth  of  the 
Scriptures,  so  also  is  one  who  thinks  incorrectly  as  to 
the  doctrine  and  deeds  of  the  Church,  pertaining  to  faith 
and  life." ' 

Thus  the  practice  of  the  Roman  Church,  whatever 

1  Op.  var.  arg.,  i.,  346  sq. 


i5i8]       Eck,  Prierias,  and  the  Pope        93 

it  be,  is  elevated  to  the  rank  of  an  absolute  standard 
of  right. 

Luther  introduces  his  reply  by  asserting  the  abso- 
lute authority  of  Holy  Scripture  above  that  of  all 
teachers  and  churches.  Further  on  he  criticises  the 
propositions  concerning  the  Church,  in  these  forcible 
words : 

"  The  Church,  virtually,  I  do  not  know,  except  in 
Christ  ;  nor  do  I  know  it  representatively,  except  in  a 
council.  Otherwise,  if  whatever  the  Church,  virtually, 
/'.  e.t  the  Pope,  do,  is  called  the  deed  of  the  Church,  what 
monstrous  crimes,  I  ask,  must  we  not  reckon  as  good 
deeds  !  Must  we  not  include  among  them  the  horrible 
shedding  of  blood  by  Julius  II.  ?  Must  we  not  include 
also  the  tyranny  of  Boniface  VIII.,  abhorred  by  the 
whole  world  ?  Nevertheless  as  to  the  latter,  the  proverb 
is  well  known  :  '  Like  a  fox  he  entered  ;  like  a  lion  he 
reigned  ;  like  a  dog  he  died  ! '  Surely  you  would  not 
have  us  believe  that  all  these  intolerable  monstrosities 
are  the  most  holy  deeds  of  the  Church  !  But,  if  the  Pope 
be  the  virtual  Church,  and  the  cardinals  the  representa- 
tive Church,  and  the  collection  of  believers  the  essen- 
tial Church,  what  will  you  call  a  general  council  ?  A 
virtual  Church  ?  No  !  A  representative  Church  ?  No  ! 
An  essential  Church  ?  No  !  What  then  ?  An  acciden- 
tal, perhaps  a  nominal  and  verbal  church  !  "  ' 

If  it  took  Prierias  only  three  days  to  write  the 
attack  upon  Luther,  the  latter  replies  that  he  spent 
one  day  less  in  preparing  the  answer!  In  two  sub- 
sequent pamphlets  Prierias  tried  to  escape  the  force 
of  Luther's  reasoning,  but  was  so  heavily  encum- 

1  Weimar,  i.,  656,  657  ;  Op.  var.  arg.,  ii.,  22. 


94  Martin  Luther  [i483- 

bered  by  reliance  upon  the  definitions  of  Thomas 
that  he  could  not  adapt  himself  to  his  opponent. 
He  belonged  to  a  past  generation,  and  had  no 
weapons  for  the  new  warfare  that  had  arisen. 

But  a  still  more  important  contribution  to  this 
controversy  had  already  appeared.  During  the  en- 
tire winter  Luther  had  been  at  work  on  a  calm  and 
thorough  exposition  of  his  Theses,  in  which  he  had 
availed  himself  of  all  the  results  of  his  other  contro- 
versial writings  on  the  same  subject.  The  aim  was 
to  enter  into  its  consideration  more  scientifically  and 
without  a  polemical  spirit.  In  the  Resolutiones,1  to 
whose  completion  he  devoted  himself  with  absorb- 
ing interest,  immediately  after  his  return  from 
Heidelberg,  we  find  a  review  of  the  questions  at 
issue  in  the  light  of  subsequent  events,  and  con- 
stantly maturing  convictions.  It  shows  that  on 
more  than  one  point  he  had  outgrown  the  Theses; 
that  on  others,  what  he  had  advanced  with  hesita- 
tion he  was  now  ready  to  confess  boldly  before  all 
men ;  that  on  still  others,  concerning  which  he  was 
afterwards  clear,  he  was  still  feeling  his  way.  But 
even  in  this  paper,  there  are  inconsistencies  that 
are  to  be  explained  only  upon  the  supposition  that 
his  opinions  changed  as  he  wrote,  and  even  after  the 
earlier  pages  were  in  type.  All  these  facts  reveal 
the  sincerity  of  his  character,  and  that  every  step 
forward  was  the  result  of  a  struggle.  Side  by  side 
we  read  "  the  devotion  of  a  monk  who  had  been 
reared  in  awe  of  the  Roman  See,  and  the  bold  self- 
consciousness  of  a  Christian  and  theologian  who,  if 

1  Op.  var.  arg.,  ii.,  137  sqq. ;  Weimar,  i.,  522  sqq. 


i5i8]       Eck,  Prierias,  and  the  Pope        95 

what  he  hopes  cannot  be  accomplished  otherwise,  is 
ready  to  oppose  the  convictions  of  his  conscience 
against  the  world." 

In  order  that  this  document  be  appreciated,  it  is 
necessary  to  read  the  letters  to  the  Pope  and  Stau- 
pitz  that  accompany  it.1  To  the  Pope  it  was  dedi- 
cated, and  Staupitz  was  asked  to  transmit  it  to  His 
Holiness.  In  the  letter  to  Staupitz  he  explains  the 
manner  in  which  the  controversy  began.  An  inci- 
dental remark  of  Staupitz  concerning  the  foundation 
of  all  true  repentance  in  love  to  God  had  given 
Luther  the  clue  to  the  meaning  of  all  the  passages 
of  Scripture  in  which  the  word  "  Repentance  "  oc- 
curs. As  he  became  more  proficient  in  Greek,  he 
found  that  the  New  Testament  word,  by  which  it  is 
translated,  means  no  more  than  a  change  of  mind. 
When  the  preachers  of  indulgences  utterly  perverted 
this  meaning,  making  it  nothing  else  than  a  series 
of  satisfactions  and  confessions,  he  could  not  keep 
silent ;  and  thus,  although  he  preferred  to  be  hidden 
in  a  corner,  he  had  been  brought  into  publicity. 
He  closes  with  the  eloquent  words: 

"  To  my  friends,  with  their  threats,  I  have  no  other 
answer  than  that  of  Reuchlin  :  '  He  who  is  poor  fears 
nothing  and  can  lose  nothing.'  Property  I  neither  have 
nor  desire.  If  I  have  had  fame  and  honour,  he  who  now 
loses  them  loses  them  forever.  If,  then,  by  force  or 
plots,  as  God  wills,  they  take  away  the  one  thing  that  is 
left,  viz.,  my  poor,  frail  body,  already  worn  out  with  in- 
cessant troubles,  they  will  make  me  poorer  for  perhaps 

1  Op.  var.  arg.,  ii.,  132,  129  ;  Weimar,  i.f  527,  525. 


96  Martin  Luther  [1483- 

one  or  two  hours  of  this  life  !  Enough  for  me  is  it  to 
have  my  precious  Redeemer  and  Advocate,  my  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  to  Whom  I  will  sing  as  long  as  I  have  being. 
If  any  one  be  unwilling  to  sing  with  me,  what  is  that  to 
me  ?  Let  him  howl  to  himself  if  he  so  prefer  !  "  ' 

To  the  Pope  he  writes  with  a  reverence  that  would 
be  unintelligible  if  it  were  not  the  rule  that  in  all 
progress  there  is,  in  every  sincere  student,  a  strange 
combination  of  contradictory  principles.  He  states 
the  manner  in  which  he  had  come  forward,  claiming 
that,  all  the  while,  he  had  been  acting  by  the 
authority  conferred  upon  him  by  his  theological 
doctorate  that  had  been  given  him  by  the  Pope. 
The  protection  of  the  Elector  of  Saxony,  with  his 
well-known  zeal  for  the  truth,  ought  to  assure  the 
Pope  that  he  could  not  be  the  dangerous  man  that 
he  was  represented  to  be !  No  words  of  submission 
could  be  more  emphatic  than  those  with  which  he 
closes:  "  Quicken,  kill,  call,  recall,  approve,  reprove, 
as  you  please.  I  will  acknowledge  your  voice  as 
that  of  Christ,  presiding  and  speaking  in  you."  * 

Introducing  the  Resolutiones  with  a  statement  of 
the  standard  according  to  which  doctrines  are  to  be 
judged,  the  decisions  of  the  scholastics  and  canonists 
are  ruled  out,  and  only  the  Holy  Scriptures,  the 
Church  Fathers,  and  the  usage  of  the  Roman  Church 
admitted.  While  the  line  between  Scriptural  and 
ecclesiastical  authority  is  not  explicitly  drawn, 
nevertheless  the  treatment  shows  that  he  regards 
Holy  Scripture  as  the  only  final  authority.  Ex- 
amining each  of  the  Theses,  his  main  effort  is  de- 

1  Op.  var.  arg.,  ii.,  132.  *  It.,  135. 


£piftok  Obfcurowriromad  #>agiftru  O:tuinii 
6m  tiii  Dauenrrimfem  Colonielatinas  ItrrcraB  pro 

irenrcno  illc.qd<°vertre0erpmi0  xnfcrcdcTnoufcrilli'spu'oiLb? 
£leganna  argurqe  Up  ore  ac  vcnuftare  longe  fupcrtor  ce. 

SdZcootcm. 

IRifuin  Ij^eraclirxrlb  ralh  ride  ro  p  arari 
3rtda  murjrtlr  pccroia  Sroia'dar 
iil?i  rhdem  antmu:feraled  ob<[cc  lurfus 
DtTpeream  nifi  itiojc  o  mnia  TRifue  crunr. 
/6rc  rce  pulmonem. 


11  u  n  u  c  u  s  U  M1  JMI  n 


TITLE-PAGE  OF  FIRST  EDITION  OF   "  EPISTOL^  OBSCURORUM  VIRORUM.' 
(SLIGHTLY  REDUCED.) 


i5i8]       Eck,  Prierias,  and  the  Pope        97 

voted  to  showing  its  Scriptural  foundations.  An 
array  of  proof-texts  meets  us,  particularly  in  the 
treatment  of  the  earlier  and  fundamental  Theses, 
suggestive  of  the  methods  of  later  text-books  of 
theology.  Great  care  is  taken  to  distinguish  be- 
tween repentance  and  satisfactions,  and  to  de- 
termine the  actual  grounds  of  forgiveness.  The 
principle  is  maintained  that  faith  alone  receives 
the  forgiveness  of  sins.  Absolution  is  declared  to 
be  the  assurance  of  the  forgiveness  that  God  has 
already  given.  It  imparts  nothing  when  the  Di- 
vine condition  of  forgiveness  is  absent.  Christ,  he 
says,  has  not  willed  that  the  salvation  of  anyone 
should  depend  upon  the  power  of  any  man ;  and  yet, 
as  a  means  whereby  consciences  are  assured  of  the 
truth  of  Christ's  promise  and  thus  consoled,  the 
power  of  the  keys  is  to  be  prized  as  a  gift  of  God, 
for  which  we  cannot  be  sufficiently  thankful.  The 
opinion  of  the  superfluous  merits  of  saints  is  opposed 
by  the  argument  that  so  far  from  being  able  to  do 
more  than  the  law  demands,  they  cannot  fulfil  it. 
The  power  of  the  Pope,  he  teaches,  is  to  be  most 
highly  honoured;  but  all  such  authority  is  to  be 
limited  to  the  externals  of  religion,  and  not  to  those 
matters  that  concern  man's  inner  relations  to  God. 
The  foundation  of  such  authority  is  placed  on  the 
same  grounds  as  that  for  obedience  to  the  civil  gov- 
ernment, but  no  other.  Unless  the  decisions  of  the 
Pope  be  inwardly  just,  they  are  of  no  validity,  and 
the  consciences  of  Christians  are  not  bound  to  them. 
The  theory  of  the  two  swords,  spiritual  and  tempo- 
ral, is  repudiated,  and  the  point  urged  that  if  this 


98  Martin  Luther  [i483- 

were  so,  then  it  might  also  be  taught  that  there 
are  two  keys,  one  to  the  riches  of  Heaven  and  the 
other  to  those  of  this  world.  The  Church,  he  de- 
clares, needs  a  reformation,  which  is  not  the  duty  of 
a  single  Pope,  or  of  any  cardinals,  but  of  the  whole 
Christian  world,  nay,  of  God  alone.  Only  He  who 
has  created  times,  knows  when  the  time  of  this  re- 
formation is  to  be.  In  hope  of  it,  many  things  are 
to  be  patiently  endured.  Leo  is  praised  as  a  pontiff 
worthy  of  better  times,  whose  integrity  and  learning 
are  the  delight  of  all  who  hear  of  him.  He  affirms 
in  one  place  his  most  firm  belief  in  Purgatory, 
although  he  afterwards  adduces  arguments  against 
it. 

Before  this  treatise,  with  its  extravagant  compli- 
ments, had  left  the  press,  Luther  had  reason  to 
change  his  good  opinion  of  the  Pope.  The  phleg- 
matic spirit  of  Leo  had  at  length  been  excited  by  the 
persistent  efforts  of  the  Dominicans.  The  papal 
solicitor,  Mario  Perusco,  had  preferred  charges 
of  heresy  against  Luther,  and  the  Pope  had  ap- 
pointed a  commission  to  try  the  case,  consisting  of 
his  auditor,  Jerome  Ghinucci,  Bishop  of  Ascoli,  and 
Prierias.  The  former  not  being  eminent  for  theo- 
logical attainments,  but  known  only  as  a  financier 
and  executive  officer,  the  person  upon  whom  would 
rest  the  decision  as  to  Luther's  guilt  was  the  very 
advocate  who  had  already  argued  that  he  was  a 
heretic!  The  case  was  prejudged,  and  no  one  could 
doubt  what  the  verdict  was  to  be. 

The  citation  reached  Luther  on  the  /th  of  August. 
He  was  summoned  to  appear  at  Rome  within  sixty 


i5i8]       Eck,  Prierias,  and  the  Pope         99 

days.  The  charge  of  heresy  for  having  ventured  to 
take  a  positive  stand  upon  a  question  as  to  which 
the  Church  had  never  given  its  decision,  combined 
with  the  wrong  done  him  in  the  selection  of  the 
person  to  judge  the  case,  aroused  the  indignation  of 
the  entire  University,  as  it  felt  itself  involved  in  the 
affront  given  its  most  prominent  professor.  The 
Elector,  always  ready  to  respond  to  appeals  where 
the  interests  of  his  University  were  at  stake,  was  asked 
by  Luther  to  intercede  with  the  Emperor  and  Pope 
for  a  change  of  the  place  of  making  answer  from 
Rome  to  some  city  in  Germany.  Spalatin  was  im- 
plored to  use  all  his  influence  with  the  Elector  to 
this  end.1  At  the  time  both  Frederick  and  his 
secretary  were  at  Augsburg,  where  the  Emperor 
Maximilian  was  holding  an  imperial  diet.  Kept  in 
suspense  for  at  least  two  weeks,  Luther  urges  Spala- 
tin to  have  the  decision  hastened. 

"  You  know,"  he  writes,  "  that  in  all  these  matters  I 
fear  nothing.  For  if  by  means  of  their  flattery  or  power 
they  cause  me  to  be  hated,  I  have  in  my  heart  and  con- 
science this  one  thing,  that  I  know  and  confess  that  all 
that  I  have,  and  against  which  they  are  contending,  I 
have  of  God,  to  Whom  I  will  gladly  offer  all.  If  He  re- 
move them,  let  them  be  removed  ;  If  He  preserve  them, 
let  them  be  preserved  !  His  holy  Name  be  blessed  for- 
ever !  Amen.  But  I  do  not  see  in  what  way  I  can 
escape  the  verdict  intended  against  me,  unless  by  aid 
of  the  Prince.  I  would  much  rather  suffer  than  that  the 
Prince  should,  for  my  sake,  incur  any  ill  reputation. 
Never  will  I  be  a  heretic.  In  disputing,  indeed,  I  can 

1  De  Wette,  i  :  131. 


ioo  Martin  Luther  [1483- 

err  ;  but  I  am  unwilling  to  decide  anything,  and  yet  I 
cannot  be  subservient  to  the  opinions  of  men."  ' 

By  these  last  words  he  means  to  declare  that  the 
decision  rests  with  the  Church,  and  that  he  cannot 
accept  the  decisions  of  any  individuals  as  those  of 
the  Church.  "  Our  friends,"  he  continues,  "  have 
thought  that  I  should  ask  of  the  Elector  a  safe- 
conduct  through  his  dominions,  and  that  when  he 
would  refuse,  as  I  know  that  he  would,  I  should 
have  a  valid  excuse  for  not  appearing. ' '  * 

Some  weeks  before  the  citation  was  received,  the 
Count  of  Mansfeld,  who,  as  the  ruler  of  Luther's 
old  home,  was  deeply  interested  in  his  welfare,  ad- 
vised John  Lange,  the  Erfurt  Augustinian  Vicar, 
not  to  allow  Luther  to  leave  Wittenberg,  as  there 
was  reason  to  believe  that  his  life  was  in  danger. 
Writing  to  his  friend,  Wenceslaus  Link,  of  Nurem- 
berg, Luther  says : 

"  Like  Jeremiah,  I  am  clearly  a  man  of  strife,  since  I 
am  daily  irritating  the  Pharisees  with  what  they  call 
new  doctrines.  But  while  I  am  unconscious  of  having 
taught  anything  but  the  pure  doctrine  I,  nevertheless, 
foresee  that  I  will  be  an  offence  to  the  most  holy  Jews 
and  foolishness  to  the  most  wise  Greeks.  I  hope  that  I 
am  debtor  to  Jesus  Christ,  who  says  :  '  I  will  show  him 
what  great  things  he  must  suffer  for  My  name.'  For  if 
He  do  not  say  this,  why  has  He  put  such  an  obstinate  man 
as  I  am  in  the  ministry,  or  why  has  He  not  taught  me 
something  else  to  say  ?  "  3 

In  this  confidence,  he  poured  forth  the  innermost 

1  De  Wette,  i :  132  sq.  */£.,  132.  8/<J.,  129  sq. 


Eck,  Prierias,  and  the  Pope       101 

convictions  of  his  heart  as  to  the  real  significance 
of  perils  he  had  encountered,  in  a  sermon  on 
the  significance  and  validity  of  excommunication, 
preached  shortly  after  his  return  from  Heidelberg, 
but  which  was  not  published  until  after  the  recep- 
tion of  the  summons  to  Rome.  Commended  most 
highly  by  friends,  when  preached,  it  had  met  with 
such  gross  misrepresentations  from  enemies,  that  he 
felt  it  his  duty,  weeks  after  its  delivery,  to  write  it 
out,  from  memory.  Excommunication,  he  declares, 
is  the  denial  of  communion,  and  the  placing  of  one 
outside  the  community  of  believers.  But  this  is 
twofold,  viz.,  internal,  or  that  of  faith,  hope,  and 
love  to  God ;  and  external  and  corporeal,  or,  prop- 
erly, participation  in  the  same  sacraments,  or,  more 
widely,  every  form  of  intimate  association.  Of  the 
former,  or  spiritual  communion,  a  creature  can  de- 
prive us  no  more  than  it  can  bestow  such  a  gift 
(Rom.  viii.,  38,  39;  I  Pet.  iii.,  13).  Ecclesiastical 
excommunication  is  only  the  deprivation  of  external 
communion  (i  Cor.  v.,  II ;  2  Thess.  iii.,  14;  2  John 
v.,  10).  If  just,  excommunication  means  that  the 
soul  has  been  delivered  already  to  the  devil,  and 
is  deprived  of  spiritual  communion;  ecclesiastical 
excommunication  therefore  inflicts  neither  death 
nor  punishment,  but  presupposes  them,  and  is 
valid  only  as  this  condition  is  present.  God  must 
excommunicate  before  the  Church  can.  It  is  the 
inner  excommunication  of  God  that  is  to  be  dreaded 
rather  than  the  external  excommunication  of  the 
Church.  Unjust  excommunication,  viz.,  that  which 
occurs  when  external  excommunication  is  inflicted 


102  Martin  Luther  [1483- 

upon  those  who  are  not  already  spiritually  ex- 
communicated of  God,  is  a  noble  merit,  and  is  to 
be  cheerfully  endured  if  the  answer  which,  in  all 
humility,  we  make  to  charges  preferred  against  us, 
be  unheeded.1  By  this  argument,  dispelling  the 
dread  of  extreme  discipline,  he  wrested  from  the 
Roman  Church  the  chief  means  whereby  it  had 
maintained  its  authority,  and  encouraged  the  freest 
criticism  of  its  principles  and  policy.  Published  at 
the  very  time  when  he  was  endeavouring  to  have  his 
case  tried  in  Germany,  it  is  not  strange  that  some 
of  his  friends  were  alarmed  by  what  seemed  to  be  its 
imprudent  expressions,  and  that  the  Elector,  as  well 
as  Spalatin,  were  much  displeased  when  their  efforts 
to  prevent  its  publication  failed,  not  because  they 
dissented  from  its  statements,  but  because  they 
thought  that,  of  all  times,  this  was  the  most  unsuit- 
able for  a  presentation  scarcely  less  irritating  than 
the  Ninety-five  Theses  themselves.  Almost  im- 
mediately the  sermon  was  republished,  three  times 
at  Leipzig  and  once  at  Augsburg,  and  new  editions 
appeared  the  next  year. 

At  Augsburg  the  course  to  be  taken  concerning 
Luther  had  become  the  subject  of  protracted  nego- 
tiations. The  Pope's  purpose  in  the  Diet  was  to 
secure  a  tax  from  Germany  for  the  prosecution  of 
the  war  against  the  Turks.  The  task  of  conciliating 
the  Emperor  and  the  German  Electors  was  entrusted 
to  his  delegate,  Cajetan,  the  former  General  of  the 
Dominicans,  now  a  cardinal,  and  a  master  in  the  art 
of  diplomacy.  As  part  of  the  policy,  the  Arch- 

1  Op.  var.  arg.,  ii.,  306  sq.  j  Weimar,  i.,  634  sqq. 


i5i8]       Eck,  Prierias,  and  the  Pope       103 

bishop  of  Mayence,  the  chief  German  champion  of 
the  indulgence  system,  was  invested  with  the  cardi- 
nalate,  while  the  Emperor  Maximilian  was  presented 
with  a  consecrated  hat  and  sword.  The  Emperor 
was  closing  the  twenty-fifth  year  of  his  reign,  and 
the  last  summer  of  his  life.  A  ruler  of  versatile  ac- 
complishments, his  ambitions  had  been  disappointed. 
No  papal  coronation  had  given  its  sanction  to  his 
election;  the  title  of  "  Holy  Roman  Emperor,"  for 
which  he  always  aspired,  never  became  his.  Made 
"  Protector  of  the  Church  "  in  Germany  by  his 
oath  of  office,  the  pontiff,  for  whose  favour  he  was 
aspiring,  was  exacting  a  rigorous  enforcement  of 
the  papal  policy  against  Luther.  But  another  mo- 
tive deterred  him  from  complying  with  the  papal 
will.  His  heart  was  set  upon  the  succession  of  his 
grandson,  Charles,  to  the  imperial  throne,  and  the 
prince  from  whom  he  had  most  to  fear,  and  whose 
favour  was  most  important  for  this  end,  was  the 
Elector  of  Saxony.  Thus  distracted  by  conflicting 
motives,  sympathising  on  the  one  hand  with  the 
protest  against  abuses,  and  even  commending  the 
monk  as  one  of  whom  care  must  be  taken  and  whom 
the  Church  needed,  and  on  the  other  unable  to  treat 
the  question  except  as  one  of  political  expediency, 
he  acquiesced  in  a  formal  letter  to  the  Pope  against 
Luther.  Such  responses,  however,  had  been  awak- 
ened from  all  ranks  in  Germany,  chafing  under  the 
papal  exactions,  and  regarding  the  tax  for  the  war 
with  the  Turks  only  an  expedient  to  obtain  money 
for  other  purposes,  that  some  concessions  were  un- 
avoidable. The  Elector  was  inflexible  in  his  de- 


104  Martin  Luther  [i483- 

mand  that  Luther  must  be  tried  only  upon  German 
soil,  and  with  an  entire  appreciation  of  the  Emperor's 
embarrassment,  conducted  the  negotiations  with 
Cajetan  in  such  a  way  that  he  gained  his  point. 
The  Pope  tried  his  own  hand  with  the  Elector,  and 
in  a  personal  letter  to  Frederick l  stigmatised  Luther 
as  a  son  of  iniquity,  and  enjoined  that  he  should  see 
to  it  that  Luther  be  brought  "  within  the  power  and 
jurisdiction  of  this  Holy  See";  while,  about  the 
same  date,  in  his  instructions  to  Cajetan  3  he  pro- 
claimed his  intention  to  inflict  the  interdict  upon 
"  all  princes,  communities,  universities,  and  powers, 
or  any  of  them,"  receiving  Martin  or  his  adherents, 
or,  for  any  reason  whatever,  giving  him  aid,  advice, 
or  favour,  whether  directly  or  indirectly,  "  until 
three  days  after  Luther  appeared  at  the  place  desig- 
nated." During  the  long  suspense  as  to  the  result 
of  the  Elector's  intercession,  Luther's  nearest  friends 
were  almost  in  despair.  Spalatin  wrote  most  gloomy 
letters  from  Augsburg,  while  Staupitz,  in  a  very 
touching  letter,  urged  him  to  come  to  him  secretly 
at  Saltzburg. 

"  The  world,"  he  writes,  "  seems  to  be  enraged  against 
the  truth.  Once,  in  its  hatred,  Christ  was  crucified  ;  and 
what  to-day  awaits  you  except  the  cross  I  do  not  see. 
Unless  I  am  deceived,  the  prevalent  opinion  is  that,  save 
by  the  will  of  the  Pope,  no  one  should  search  the  Script- 
ures to  determine  what  Christ  has  commanded.  A  few 
advocates  you  have.  O  that,  for  fear  of  adversaries,  they 
were  not  hidden  !  I  want  you  to  leave  Wittenberg  for 

1  Weimar,  ii.,  352.  *  16.,  354. 


isi8]       Eck,  Prierias,  and  the  Pope       105 

a  while  and  come  to  me,  that  we  may  live  and  die  to- 
gether. This  is  also  the  pleasure  of  the  Prince.  As 
deserted  men  let  us  follow  the  deserted  Christ ! "  l 

Meanwhile  other  interests  divide  his  attention  and 
relieve  the  strain  of  his  apprehensions.  His  univer- 
sity work  proceeds  with  a  constant  increase  of 
students.  His  thoughts  are  intent  upon  the  enlarge- 
ment of  the  scope  of  the  instruction.  Especially 
desirous  that  the  Word  of  God  in  its  original  text 
should  be  accessible,  a  vigorous  effort  had  been 
made  to  secure  a  professor  of  Greek  thoroughly 
versed  in  all  the  results  of  the  revival  of  letters. 
With  laudable  ambition,  Wittenberg  aspired  at 
securing  Reuchlin,  who,  on  declining,  recommended 
his  grand-nephew  and  prottgt,  Philip  Melanchthon, 
then  barely  past  his  twenty-first  year,  and  already 
widely  celebrated  for  his  attainments.  On  August 
25th  he  reached  Wittenberg,  where  his  extreme 
youth,  unpretentious  appearance,  and  retiring  dis- 
position caused  universal  disappointment.  But  his 
inaugural  address  awakened  the  greatest  enthusiasm. 
No  one  was  more  delighted  than  Luther.  He  found 
in  the  young  professor  the  accomplished  classical 
scholar,  through  whom  the  results  of  the  New  Learn- 
ing were  made  available  as  instruments  for  the  de- 
fence of  the  faith  of  the  Reformation  and  the 
interpretation  of  the  Holy  Scriptures.  Sensible  of 
his  defects  in  the  knowledge  of  Greek  and  Hebrew, 
and  candid  in  acknowledging  them,  he  had  now  one 
by  his  side  upon  whose  judgment  and  advice  within 

1  Loescher,  ii.,  446. 


io6  Martin  Luther  [1518 

those  spheres  he  could  ever  rely.  He  regarded  him 
as  a  boy,  cherished  him  as  a  son,  confided  in  him  as  a 
brother,  and  in  many  things  submitted  to  his  advice 
and  instruction  as  though  he  were  his  father  and 
teacher.  So  constant  and  unreserved  was  the  inti- 
macy between  them  that,  from  this  time  on,  it  be- 
comes impossible  to  absolutely  separate  their  labours, 
since  in  the  preparation  of  most  books  and  papers, 
and  in  their  decisions  on  all  important  questions, 
they  acted  with  mutual  consultation  and  revision  of 
each  other's  work.  It  was  the  work  of  Luther  to 
draw  from  the  Holy  Scriptures,  under  the  pressure 
of  severe  conflict,  the  testimony  which  the  particu- 
lar emergency  required.  These  testimonies  came 
forth  like  sparks  from  the  anvil,  without  regard  to 
any  rigid  system.  Melanchthon  gathered  them  to- 
gether, reduced  them  to  scientific  statement  and 
methodical  order,  enriched  them  by  his  more  varied 
reading,  and  carried  to  completion  much  that  Luther 
had  only  suggested.  Luther  became  the  represent- 
ative of  the  Reformation  to  the  people ;  Melanchthon 
to  scholars  and  courts.  As  mild  and  tender  as 
Luther  was  fiery  and  impetuous,  he  moderated  the 
spirit  of  his  friend,  and  gained  a  hearing  for  their 
common  cause,  where  Luther's  methods  were  some- 
times apt  only  to  repell. 


PHILIP   MELANCHTHON. 
FROM  MELANCHTHON'S  FUNERAL  ORATION  ON   LUTHER,    »5»6. 


BIRTH  MEDAL. 


CHAPTER   IV 

BEFORE   CAJETAN  AT  AUGSBURG 

NOT  until  the  last  week  in  September  was  Luther 
informed  that  he  was  to  be  heard,  not  in 
Rome,  but  at  Augsburg.  After  the  other  business 
of  the  Diet  was  disposed  of,  it  was  proposed  to  con- 
sider his  case.  Responding  without  delay,  he  left 
Wittenberg  with  Leonard  Beyer,  who  is  remembered 
as  one  of  the  participants  in  the  Heidelberg  Con- 
ference, and  made  the  journey,  with  the  exception 
of  a  few  miles,  upon  foot.  The  trying  autumn 
weather,  with  its  raw  atmosphere  and  overcast  skies, 
is  particularly  mentioned.  At  Weimar,  where  the 
Elector,  who  had  already  left  the  Diet,  was  tarrying, 
he  preached  on  St.  Michael's  Day  a  sermon  upon 
Matt,  xviii.,  i-ii,  that  surprised  his  hearers  by  its 
absence  of  any  allusion  to  the  proper  theme  of  the 
day,  the  guardianship  of  angels,  and  confined  its  at- 
tention to  the  sin  of  self-righteousness.  There  also 
he  received  through  Spalatin  instructions  from  the 
Elector  as  to  the  course  to  be  pursued,  letters  to 

107 


io8  Martin  Luther  [i483- 

persons  of  influence  in  Augsburg,  and  twenty 
guldens  for  expenses.  The  Franciscans  entertained 
him,  and  when  one  of  them  expressed  his  apprehen- 
sions for  Luther's  safety,  he  was  asked  for  his  pray- 
ers, Luther  adding  that  if  the  work  were  not  of 
God  it  must  be  destroyed,  but  that  otherwise  no 
one  could  hinder  it.  As  he  proceeded,  however, 
the  thought  of  the  disgrace  that  his  parents  would 
suffer  in  case  he  were  to  be  condemned  could  not  be 
entirely  suppressed.  At  Nuremberg,  kind  friends 
notice  that  his  coat  is  too  shabby  for  the  occasion, 
and  provide  him  with  a  new  one.  There  also  his 
old  friend,  Link,  joins  him,  and  attends  him  the  rest 
of  the  way,  a  partial  compensation  for  the  disap- 
pointment that  the  jurist  Scheurl  was  absent  from 
home,  and  therefore  unable,  according  to  the  Elect- 
or's plans,  to  be  his  legal  adviser.  To  many  the 
journey  to  Augsburg  seemed  a  death-march;  but 
their  expressions  of  sympathy  are  answered  by  the 
assurance  that,  even  in  Augsburg,  Jesus  Christ 
reigns.  "  Let  Christ  live;  let  Martin  die."  Worn 
out  and  sick,  and  unable  for  the  last  few  miles  to 
walk,  he  enters  Augsburg  October  7th. 

Luther's  unexpected  arrival  was  the  sensation  of 
the  hour.  Everyone  was  eager  to  see  and  hear 
him.  The  Diet  had  practically  adjourned,  the  most 
of  the  princes  having  left,  and  the  Emperor  being 
on  a  hunting  expedition  in  the  mountains.  Luther's 
first  abode  was  with  his  brethren  of  the  Augustinian 
Order,  and  afterwards  with  the  Carmelites.  Trust- 
worthy advisers  were  found  in  the  Elector's  counsel- 
lors and  the  citizens  of  Augsburg  to  whom  the 


isi8]      Before  Cajetan  at  Augsburg       109 

Elector's  letters  introduced  him.  Beyer  immediately 
was  sent  to  bring  Staupitz,  who  had  promised  to  ap- 
pear as  soon  as  he  would  learn  of  Luther's  arrival. 
On  the  day  of  Luther's  entrance,  Link  was  sent  to 
Cajetan,  to  notify  him  that  a  response  to  the  sum- 
mons would  be  made  at  any  hour.  Here,  however,  a 
protracted  series  of  negotiations  began,  that  delayed 
procedure  for  nearly  a  week,  Luther's  counsellors 
insisting  that  the  imperial  "  safe-conduct  "  must  be 
given  before  he  could  personally  appear.  In  the 
absence  of  Maximilian,  the  imperial  counsellors  re- 
garded themselves  unauthorised  to  give  such  an  as- 
surance to  one  who  had  already  been  adjudged  a 
heretic.  Cajetan's  profuse  personal  pledges  Luther 
firmly  declined  to  accept.  Even  the  intervention 
of  one  whom  the  Elector  had  commended  to  Luther, 
Urbanus  de  Serralonga,  could  not  induce  him  to 
comply.  "  Do  you  suppose,"  asked  Urbanus, 
"  that  the  Elector  will  go  to  war  on  your  be- 
half ?  "  "  No,"  answered  Luther.  "  Where,  then, 
will  you  stay  ?  "  '  Under  the  heavens,"  was  the 
response.  '  What  would  you  do,"  continued  the 
diplomat,  "  if  the  Pope  and  his  cardinals  were  in 
your  power?"  'Treat  them  with  all  respect," 
was  the  prompt  answer.  The  difficulty  was  finally 
adjusted,  when  Cajetan  assured  the  imperial  coun- 
sellors that  he  would  connive  at  their  taking  the 
responsibility  for  the  issue  of  the  safe-conduct, 
although  declining  to  sign  the  document.  Luther 
being  satisfied,  the  I2th  of  October1  witnessed  the 

1  For  proceedings  at  Augsburg  see  Weimar,  ii.,  i  sqq.;  DeWette,  i  : 
142-167,  175  sqq.;  Op.  var.  arg.,  ii.,  340  sqq.  ;  Loscher,  ii.,  435  sqq. 


no  Martin  Luther 


beginning  of  the  conferences.  The  delay  had  en- 
abled Staupitz  to  reach  him  in  ample  time,  as  he 
appeared  at  Augsburg  that  very  day. 

In  character  and  learning  Cajetan  stood  in  the  first 
rank  among  the  Roman  ecclesiastics.  The  display, 
in  which  he  is  said  to  have  outshone  the  Emperor 
at  Augsburg,  was  intended  to  make  a  profound  im- 
pression of  the  importance  of  the  interests  he  repre- 
sented. The  preparation  of  a  book  on  the  subject 
of  indulgences,  even  before  the  publication  of 
Luther's  Theses,  had  peculiarly  fitted  him  for  his 
mission.  As  an  enthusiastic  Dominican,  his  inter- 
pretation of  the  powers  of  the  Papacy  fully  antici- 
pated the  position  which  the  Roman  Church  did  not 
venture  to  officially  endorse  until  the  late  Vatican 
Council. 

Instructed  as  to  the  proper  procedure  by  Serra- 
longa,  Luther  appeared  before  Cajetan,  attended 
by  his  friends  Link  and  Beyer,  the  prior  Frosch, 
and  two  brethren  of  the  Carmelites.  A  large  num- 
ber of  Italian  ecclesiastics,  desirous  of  seeing  and 
hearing  Luther,  attended  the  cardinal.  According 
to  instructions,  Luther  threw  himself  prostrate  be- 
fore the  representative  of  the  Pope.  At  the  com- 
mand to  rise  he  knelt,  and  then,  at  the  second 
command,  he  stood  up.  A  moment  of  silence 
followed.  Luther,  interpreting  it  as  meaning  that 
now  is  the  time  to  speak,  expresses  regret  if,  in  any 
way,  he  has  spoken  unadvisedly,  and  asks  to  be 
better  instructed.  In  a  courteous  and  even  com- 
plimentary reply,  Cajetan  declares  his  unwillingness 
to  enter  into  a  discussion,  and  propounds,  in  the 


is  is]      Before  Cajetan  at  Augsburg       1 1 1 

name  of  the  Pope,  three  demands,  viz.,  first,  a  recan- 
tation of  errors ;  secondly,  a  promise  to  refrain  from 
them  in  the  future;  and,  thirdly,  the  avoidance  of 
all  other  acts  that  might  disturb  the  peace  of  the 
Church.  Luther  asks  what  the  errors  are  that  he  is 
required  to  recant.  Cajetan  specifies  two,  which 
represent  what  have  since  been  known  as  the  formal 
and  the  material  principles  of  Protestantism.  The 
formal  principle,  viz.,  the  sole  authority  of  Holy 
Scripture  in  matters  of  faith,  comes  into  immediate 
discussion,  when  Cajetan  points  Luther  to  Thesis 
LVIII.,1  in  which  he  has  denied  that  the  merits  of 
Christ  are  the  treasures  of  the  Church,  distributed 
by  indulgences.  The  cardinal  triumphantly  adduces 
as  his  authority,  by  which  to  prove  the  error,  the 
fact  that  the  thesis  is  directly  contrary  to  the  Bull  of 
Clement  VI.,  beginning,  "  Unigenitus,"  a  document 
of  some  rarity,  of  which  he  seems  to  think  Luther 
is  ignorant.  Luther  not  only  shows  his  acquaintance 
with  it,  but  directs  the  cardinal's  attention  to  a 
similar  statement  of  Sixtus  IV.  He  meets  the 
argument,  not  by  questioning  the  genuineness  of 
these  documents,  but  by  antagonising  their  teach- 
ing as  doing  violence  to  Holy  Scripture.  The 
cardinal  replying  that  the  authority  of  the  Pope  is 
above  that  of  councils  and  Scripture,  and  Luther 
denying  this,  the  discussion  becomes  warm,  and 
diverges  into  a  number  of  important  side  topics. 
The  second  error  alleged  against  Luther  was  that  in 

1  "  Nee  sunt  merita  Christi  et  sanctorum,  quia  haec  semper  sine 
Papa  operantur  gratiam  hominis  interioris,  et  crucem,  mortem,  in- 
fernumque  exterioris." 


ii2  Martin  Luther  [1483- 

his  Resolutiones '  he  had  taught  that  the  sacraments 
confer  no  blessing  except  upon  those  confidently 
believing  that  the  promise  attached  to  the  sacrament 
received  belongs  to  them.  The  objection  of  Cajetan 
rested  upon  the  assumption  that  no  one  can  be  sure 
whether  or  not  he  receives  the  grace  of  God.  In  all 
the  great  inner  struggles  of  Luther's  life  this  had 
been  the  burning-point.  The  mere  suggestion  that 
he  should  surrender  a  doctrine  entering  so  deeply 
into  his  entire  Christian  experience,  he  tells  us,  oc- 
casioned the  deepest  pain,  and  he  made  prompt 
answer  that,  on  this  point,  he  could  not  recant,  since 
this  alleged  error  was  the  clear  teaching  of  Holy 
Scripture.  The  uncompromising  answer  was: 
"  Willingly  or  unwillingly,  you  must  recant  to-day, 
or,  because  of  this  one  point,  I  shall  condemn  all 
your  Theses."  No  result  could  be  reached  in  the 
way  of  an  agreement  where  the  one  aimed  at  nothing 
more  than  the  accumulation  of  citations  from  the  de- 
cretals and  scholastics,  while  the  other  would  admit 
no  evidence  not  derived  from  the  Scriptures. 

The  experience  of  the  first  day  showed  the  import- 
ance of  proceeding  to  the  further  discussions  with 
the  utmost  caution.  Accompanied  by  the  Saxon 
counsellor,  Dr.  Peutinger,  and  by  Staupitz  and  a 
notary,  he  presented  at  the  very  beginning  of  the 
interview  of  the  next  day  a  protest,  setting  forth 
with  most  careful  discrimination  the  precise  points 
of  dissent. 

"  First  of  all,"  it  ran,  "  I,  Brother  Martin  Luther  the 


1  Conc/usioVII.,  Op.  var.  arg,t  ii.,   155  sqq. 


i5i8]      Before  Cajetan  at  Augsburg       113 

Augustinian,  protest  that  I  revere  and  follow  the  Holy 
Roman  Church  in  all  my  words  and  deeds,  present,  past, 
and  future.  If  anything  otherwise  has  been  said  I  wish 
it  unsaid.  ...  I  protest  that  I  am  not  conscious  of 
having  said  anything  contrary  to  Holy  Scripture,  the 
Church  Fathers,  the  papal  decrees,  or  right  reason,  but 
that  all  that  I  have  said  seems  to  me  to-day  to  be  sound, 
true,  and  catholic.  Nevertheless,  as  I  am  not  infallible, 
I  have  submitted  myself,  and  also  now  submit  myself  to 
the  judgment  and  determination  of  the  lawful  holy 
Church,  and  to  all  of  better  mind.  Besides,  I  offer 
either  here  or  elsewhere  to  present  publicly  a  reason  for 
my  statements.  But  if  this  be  not  agreeable  to  Your 
Reverence,  I  am  ready  either  to  respond  in  writing  to 
the  objections  urged  and  to  hear  the  judgment  and  de- 
cision of  the  doctors  of  the  renowned  Imperial  Universi- 
ties of  Basel,  Freiburg,  Louvain  ;  or,  if  they  be  not 
enough,  of  Paris  also,  the  parent  of  studies,  and  from 
antiquity  ever  the  most  Christian  University,  and  that  in 
which  theology  has  been  particularly  cultivated."  ' 

At  what  he  deemed  the  presumption  of  this  ap- 
peal, Cajetan  professed  to  be  amused.  Unwilling 
to  admit  any  argument,  he  insists  upon  the  one 
word,  "  Recant."  Luther's  plea  that  he  might  be 
permitted  to  present  a  defence  in  writing,  being  sup- 
ported by  Staupitz,  is  finally  conceded  with  the  de- 
claration that  he  will  admit  it,  not  as  a  judge  but  as 
a  father,  since  no  disputation  with  Luther  can  even 
be  thought  of.  Dismissed  the  second  time,  Luther 
prepares  in  the  monastery  of  the  Carmelites  a  very 
thorough  and  comprehensive  argument  in  answer  to 

1  Op.  var.  arg.,  ii.,  371  sq. 
8 


ii4  Martin  Luther 

the  two  specifications  of  error  that  Cajetan  had  pre- 
ferred on  the  preceding  day. 

Laying  down  at  the  very  beginning  the  proposi- 
tion that  the  decretals  of  popes  are  to  be  received 
only  when  they  are  in  harmony  with  Scripture,  he 
shows  that  as  Peter  erred  (Gal.  ii.,  11),  and  that  as, 
in  the  synod  at  Jerusalem,  it  was  not  the  teaching  of 
Peter  but  that  of  James  that  was  approved,  those 
who  claimed  to  be  his  successors  certainly  should 
not  expect  any  higher  immunity  from  error. 

"  I  had  not  the  temerity,  on  the  ground  of  one  am- 
biguous and  obscure  decretal  of  a  pope,  a  mere  man,  to 
depart  from  numerous  and  most  clear  testimonies  of 
Scripture,  in  which  the  saints  are  said  to  be  without 
merits,  since  the  Pope  is  not  above  but  beneath  the  word 
of  God,  according  to  Gal.  i.,  8."  l 

He  proceeds  to  show  that  there  is  a  sense,  after 
all,  in  which  the  statements  of  the  Bull  could  be  ad- 
mitted,  but  urges  that,  as  the  words  are  ambiguous, 
and  can  afford  only  matters  of  dispute,  the  language 
that  he  had  employed  in  his  Theses  is  preferable. 

As  to  the  second  specification,  he  says: 

"  The  second  objection  is  that  I  have  said  that  no  one 
can  be  justified  except  by  faith,  viz.,  that  it  is  necessary 
for  him,  with  confident  faith,  to  believe  that  he  is  justi- 
fied, and  in  no  way  doubt  that  he  has  received  grace ; 
for  if  he  doubt  and  be  uncertain,  he  is  not  justified,  but 
rejects  grace.  To  this  I  reply  :  i.  The  truth  is  infallible 
that  no  one  is  righteous  save  he  who  believes  in  God 
(Rom.  i.,  17).  Whoever  believes  not  is  already  condemned 

lOf.  var.  arg.,  ii.,  374. 


Before  Cajetan  at  Augsburg       115 

and  dead,  and  hence  the  righteousness  and  life  of  the 
righteous  man  is  his  faith.  2.  But  faith  is  nothing  but 
to  believe  what  God  promises  or  says  (Rom.  iv.,  3).  3. 
That  one  coming  to  the  sacrament  must  believe  that  he 
receives  grace  and  must  not  doubt,  but  believe  with  sur- 
est confidence,  or  must  otherwise  come  into  condemna- 
tion, we  prove  :  i.  From  Heb.  xi.,  6,  '  But  if  he  must 
believe  God  as  rewarder,  he  must  also  believe  him  as  a 
justifier  and  a  present  bestower  of  grace.'  2.  Under 
penalty  of  eternal  condemnation  and  the  sin  of  infidelity, 
it  is  necessary  to  believe  the  words  of  Christ :  '  Whatso- 
ever ye  shall  loose  on  earth  shall  be  loosed  in  heaven.' 
If,  then,  you  come  to  the  sacrament  of  repentance,  and 
believe  not  firmly  that  you  are  to  be  absolved  in  heaven, 
you  enter  into  judgment,  because  you  believe  not  that 
Christ  spake  the  truth,  when  He  said  :  '  Whatsoever  ye 
shall  loose,'  etc.,  and  thus,  by  your  doubt,  make  Christ  a 
liar,  which  is  a  fearful  sin.  But  should  you  say  :  '  I  am 
unworthy  and  unprepared  for  the  sacrament,"  I  answer  : 
By  no  preparation  will  you  be  worthy  :  by  no  works  will 
you  be  prepared,  but  by  faith  alone,  since  faith  in 
Christ's  word  alone  justifies,  renders  worthy,  quickens, 
and  prepares,  without  which  all  else  are  efforts  either  of 
presumption  or  of  despair.  For  the  just  lives  not  from 
his  preparation,  but  from  his  faith.  Hence  your  lack  of 
worthiness  should  occasion  no  doubts  :  for  just  because 
you  are  unworthy  you  should  come,  in  order  to  be  made 
worthy  ;  and  you  are  justified  by  Him  Who  seeks  for 
sinners,  and  not  for  the  righteous.  In  believing  the 
word  of  Christ  you  honour  His  word,  and  by  His  work 
you  are  righteous."  ' 

Scripture  proof  after  proof  is  quoted  and  com- 

1  Op.  var.  arg.,  ii.,  377  sq. 


n6  Martin  Luther  [1483- 

mented  upon,  viz.:  Matt,  xv.,  28,  viii.,  13,  viii., 
8;  John  iv.,  50;  Mark  xi.,  24;  Matt,  xvii.,  20; 
James  i.,  5-7;  Luke  i.,  45;  Rom.  iv.,  21.  Sup- 
ported thus  by  Scripture,  he  quotes  triumphantly 
the  adage:  "  Not  the  sacrament  of  faith,  but  the 
faith  of  the  sacrament  justifies,"  and  he  concludes 
with  words  in  which  we  can  read  his  declaration  at 
Worms:  "  Only  compel  me  to  do  nothing  against 
my  conscience.  For,  without  qualification,  I  be- 
lieve that  this  is  the  meaning  of  the  Scriptures."  ' 

Such  a  mode  of  argument  is  beyond  the  apprecia- 
tion of  one  who  relies  exclusively  upon  the  decrees 
of  popes  and  the  definitions  of  scholastics.  When 
Luther,  therefore,  read  it  to  the  cardinal  on  the 
morning  of  October  I4th,  the  indifference  with  which 
he  listened  and  the  summary  way  in  which  he  dis- 
posed of  it,  with  the  promise,  however,  of  sending 
it  to  Rome,  were  only  what  was  to  be  expected. 

The  closing  scene  of  this  conference  was  one  of 
excitement.  Not  a  single  passage  of  Scripture  was 
produced  against  Luther's  statements,  but,  instead, 
the  one  word  that  he  heard  was  the  monotone, 
"  Recant,"  "  Recant."  Ten  times  Luther  tried  to 
speak,  but  was  fairly  shouted  down,  until  he  adopted 
the  cardinal's  method,  and  also  let  his  voice  be 
heard.  As  the  heat  of  the  contest  grew,  the  cardi- 
nal's citation  of  his  favourite  authorities  was  parried 
by  Luther's  quickness  in  detecting  and  exposing  the 
wrong  construction  placed  upon  them.  He  charged 
the  cardinal  with  imagining  that  the  Germans  could 
not  understand  grammar,  and  forgot  himself  so  far 

1  Op.  var.  arg. ,  ii. ,  379  sqq. 


Before  Cajetan  at  Augsburg       117 

as  at  one  time  to  dispense  with  the  courtly  style  of 
address.  Cajetan  finally  dismissed  him  with  the 
words:  "  Recant,  or  do  not  come  again  before  my 
eyes."  Luther  never  troubled  him  afterwards  with 
his  presence. 

Unwearied  in  his  efforts,  Cajetan  next  sought  to 
effect  his  purpose  through  Staupitz,  whom,  with 
Link,  he  summoned  to  an  interview.  But  Staupitz 
assured  him  that  he  had  ever  taught  Luther  the 
duty  of  obedience  to  the  Church,  and  that,  as  Luther 
had  passed  beyond  his  ability  to  influence  him,  the 
representative  of  the  Pope  was  the  proper  person 
to  persuade  him,  if  any  one  could.  To  the  sug- 
gestion that  Luther  be  granted  another  audience, 
Cajetan  is  said  by  Myconius  to  have  replied:  "  I 
will  talk  no  more  with  that  beast ;  for  he  has  deep 
eyes  and  wonderful  speculations  in  his  head."  '  In 
an  interview  shortly  afterwards  with  Link,  the  offer 
was  made  to  ignore  the  position  concerning  the  as- 
surance of  faith,  provided  he  would  recant  his  de- 
clarations concerning  indulgences.  Staupitz  and 
Link  attempted  to  persuade  him  to  yield,  but  were 
overwhelmed  with  such  an  array  of  Scripture  texts 
that  they  desisted.  Fearing  that,  as  his  Vicar-Gen- 
eral, the  unpleasant  task  of  calling  Luther  to  ac- 
count might  be  imposed  upon  him,  Staupitz  released 
him  from  the  obligation  of -obedience,  and  greatly 
encouraged  him  with  the  words:  "  Remember, 
brother,  that  thou  hast  begun  these  things  in  the 

1  Quoted  by  Loescher,  ii.,  477,  from  Myconius,  Hist.  Ref.,  p.  73  : 
"  Ego  nolo  amplius  cum  hac  bestia  loqui.  Habet  enim  profundos 
oculos  et  mirabiles  speculationes  in  capite  suo." 


ii8  Martin  Luther  [i483- 

name  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ."  The  runjour 
having  reached  them  that  Cajetan  was  planning  to 
have  them  arrested,  and  taken  with  Luther  to 
Rome,  these  two  friends  departed  hastily  and 
secretly  for  Nuremberg,  leaving  Luther  awaiting 
the  pleasure  of  the  cardinal,  in  case  he  desired 
another  interview.  On  Sunday,  October  I7th,  he 
wrote  a  most  humble  letter  to  Cajetan,  apologising 
for  any  discourtesy  he  had  shown  at  the  last  inter- 
view. With  all  due  respect,  however,  he  repeats 
his  constant  reply,  that  while  ready  to  concede 
everything  else,  he  can  surrender  nothing  that  is  a 
matter  of  conscience.  He  also  very  candidly  gives 
his  judgment  concerning  the  folly  of  relying  upon 
Thomas  Aquinas  as  an  authority.1  Waiting  still 
another  day  without  an  answer,  he  informed  the  car- 
dinal that,  unless  he  heard  from  him  soon,  he  would 
waste  no  more  time  imposing  upon  the  hospitality 
of  the  Carmelites  while  there  seemed  to  be  nothing 
for  him  to  do.  On  the  advice  of  the  legal  counsel- 
lors of  Luther,  a  protest  had  already  been  prepared 
from  Cajetan  to  the  Pope,  or,  as  he  states  it,  "  from 
the  Pope  ill-informed  to  the  Pope  better  informed."  * 
Leaving  this  protest  to  be  handed  to  Cajetan  by  his 
friend  Beyer,  he  passed,  in  the  night  of  October  2Oth, 
through  a  small  gate  in  the  city  walls,  opened  for 
him  by  a  trusted  friend,  and,  attended  by  an  escort, 
rode  on  horseback  in  a  monk's  habit,  and  without 
a  horseman's  outfit,  on  the  road  to  Nuremberg. 
Reaching  the  village  of  Monheim,  a  distance  of  eight 

1  De  Wette,  i :  161,  163  ;  Op.  var.  arg.,  ii.,  393,  395. 
'  Protest  in  Op.  var.  arg. ,  ii. ,  307  sqq. 


i5i8]      Before  Cajetan  at  Augsburg       119 

German  miles  (thirty-two  English  miles),  on  the  2 1st, 
he  was  so  fatigued  from  the  unaccustomed  mode 
of  travelling  that  when  he  dismounted  he  fell  from 
exhaustion  upon  the  straw  of  the  stable.  On  the 
next  day  the  protest  that  he  had  left  was  posted 
by  the  cardinal  upon  the  door  of  the  cathedral  at 
Augsburg. 

On  his  arrival  at  Nuremberg  he  received  from 
Spalatin  a  copy  of  the  instructions  sent,  August  23d, 
to  Cajetan  by  the  Pope,  showing  that  all  through 
the  pretended  impartial  treatment,  he  was  already 
adjudged  a  heretic.  Unwilling  at  first  to  surrender 
his  good  opinion  of  Leo,  he  openly  pronounced  the 
document  a  forgery,  fabricated  by  enemies  in  Ger- 
many. Reaching  home  on  the  anniversary  of  the 
nailing  up  of  the  Theses,  he  wrote  that  evening: 
"  I  am  full  of  peace  and  joy,  so  that  I  am  surprised 
that  this  trial  of  mine  seems  anything  important  to 
many  and  great  men."  At  the  same  time  he  an- 
nounced his  intention  to  appeal  to  a  future  council. 


MELANCHTHON. 


CHAPTER  V 

MILTITZ  AND  THE  LEIPZIG  DISPUTATION 

ONCE  more  at  Wittenberg,  Luther  entered  with 
customary  zeal  upon  his  university  duties, 
having  been  made  the  dean  of  the  faculty  during 
his  absence.  An  interesting  incident  of  the  univer- 
sity life  was  the  conferring  of  the  degree  of  doctor 
of  divinity  upon  the  Carmelite  prior,  John  Frosch, 
who  had  entertained  Luther  during  his  stay  at 
Augsburg,  and  the  banquet  in  his  honour.  Luther 
was  immediately  occupied  with  the  preparation  of  a 
full  report  of  the  transactions  between  himself  and 
Cajetan,  since  he  was  confident  that  his  course  and 
responses  would  be  misrepresented.  Before  it  was 
completed  a  letter  was  received  by  the  Elector  from 
Cajetan  laying  a  complaint  against  Luther  for  his 
conduct  at  Augsburg,  and  demanding  that  the  Elec- 
tor should  either  send  him  to  Rome,  or  banish  him. 
The  letter  being  immediately  sent  to  Luther,  he 
prepared  on  the  same  day  an  answer  recounting  all 

120 


The  Leipzig  Disputation          121 

the  circumstances,  and  expressing  his  deep  regret  at 
the  unpleasant  position  in  which  the  Elector  was 
placed.  He  begs  not  to  be  sent  to  Rome,  as  that 
would  be  nothing  else  than  murder.  But,  at  the 
same  time,  he  declares  his  readiness,  whenever  the 
Elector  thinks  best,  to  leave  Saxony.  Paris  seems 
to  have  been  in  his  mind,  and  in  that  of  his  friends, 
as  a  possible  place  of  refuge.  From  the  pulpit  he 
declared  that  he  might  suddenly  depart  without 
being  able  to  bid  the  congregation  farewell.  Only 
once,  and  that  for  a  brief  moment,  did  the  Elector 
think  that  Luther  should  be  asked  to  leave.  His 
prompt  answer  to  Cajetan  was : 

"  Since  Dr.  Martin  offers  to  submit  his  case  to  the 
judgment  of  several  universities,  and  to  enter  into  a  dis- 
cussion at  any  places  that  are  safe,  and,  when  the  case 
has  been  presented,  will  obediently  permit  himself  to  be 
taught  and  persuaded,  we  think  that  in  all  justice  his  re- 
quest should  be  granted,  or,  at  least,  his  errors  ought  to 
be  shown  him  in  writing, — a  request  that  we  also  make, 
in  order  that  we  may  know  why  he  should  be  regarded  a 
heretic,  and  that  we  may  have  the  facts  upon  which  to 
act.  For  we  hold  that  one  not  yet  convicted  should  not 
be  held  and  branded  as  a  heretic."  ' 

As  a  preliminary  to  a  personal  attack,  the  Pope 
published,  on  November  gih,  a  Bull  directed  in 
general  against  all  who  were  protesting  against  the 
sale  of  indulgences.  It  was  the  assumption  by  Leo 
of  the  full  responsibility,  in  answer  to  Luther's  be- 
lief, so  often  expressed,  that  his  representatives  were 

1  Of.  var.  arg.,  ii.,  409  sy. 


122  Martin  Luther  ex- 

acting beyond  their  instructions.  Anticipating  the 
arrival  at  any  day  of  a  sentence  of  excommunication, 
Luther  made  a  formal  appeal,  before  a  notary  and 
witnesses,  in  the  chapel  of  the  Parochial  Church, 
from  the  decision  of  the  Pope  to  a  General  Council.1 
Sent  to  the  press,  but  not  intended  for  publication 
before  the  arrival  of  the  papal  Bull,  the  printer,  to 
Luther's  displeasure,  complied  with  the  demand  for 
its  immediate  issue.  In  making  this  appeal,  he  had 
in  view  the  precedent  afforded  only  a  few  months 
previously  by  the  University  of  Paris. 

But  meanwhile  Cajetan's  course  was  not  regarded 
with  unqualified  satisfaction  at  Rome.  The  firm- 
ness of  the  Elector  of  Saxony,  it  was  felt,  must  have 
some  reason.  Tetzel  had  fallen  into  disrepute,  as 
one  whose  extravagant  statements  and  lack  of  judg- 
ment had  occasioned  the  trouble.  A  special  effort 
to  win  over  the  Elector  was,  therefore,  determined 
upon.  Mincio,  the  Venetian  ambassador  to  the 
papal  court,  wrote  home,  that  on  September  4th 
the  Pope  had  announced  his  intention  of  conferring 
upon  the  Elector  the  high  honour  of  the  presenta- 
tion of  the  Golden  Rose,  and  added:  "  The  Pope 
did  thus  try,  through  the  medium  of  the  Duke  of 
Saxony,  to  allay  a  heresy  of  a  certain  Dominican  (!) 
friar,  who  was  preaching  in  those  parts  of  the  Apos- 
tolic See."  In  order  to  render  the  present  still 
more  grateful,  the  nuncio  chosen  to  transmit  it  was 
a  Saxon  nobleman,  Carl  von  Miltitz,  who  for  a  num- 
ber of  years  had  represented  the  interests  of  the 
Elector  at  Rome.  But  his  mission  was  wider.  The 


1  Op.  var.  arg.t  ii.,  435  sqq. 


1519]         The  Leipzig  Disputation         123 

work  that  Cajetan  had  failed  in  accomplishing  was 
intrusted  to  him.  He  was  not  only  to  report  as  to 
the  actual  condition  of  affairs  in  Germany,  but  also 
to  use  every  effort  to  bring  about  a  reconciliation. 
The  contrasts  with  his  predecessor  were  very  marked. 
The  one  was  an  Italian,  not  only  unacquainted  with 
the  German  people,  but  unable  to  understand  their 
feeling,  or  adapt  himself  to  their  peculiarities ;  the 
other,  as  a  German,  not  only  knew  the  Germans, 
but  had  facilities  of  information  and  influence  that 
were  entirely  closed  to  Cajetan.  The  one  was  an 
ecclesiastic,  the  other  a  jurist  and  diplomat.  The 
one  lived  in  the  fossilised  opinions  of  Thomas 
Aquinas,  seeking  to  bend  everything  to  his  defini- 
tions, and  thinking  that  all  search  for  truth  could  be 
suppressed  by  the  six  letters,  "  Recant  "  ;  the  other 
was  a  man  of  the  world,  devoted  to  social  pleasure, 
and  adjusting  every  thing  to  the  influences  dominant 
at  the  hour.  The  one  was  reserved  and  secretive ; 
the  other,  at  the  table,  delighted  in  giving  full  liberty 
to  his  geniality,  by  graceful  compliments  and  un- 
anticipated revelations  of  what  ordinarily  belongs  to 
the  confidential  relations  between  ambassadors  and 
their  sovereigns. 

Miltitz  had  scarcely  entered  Germany  before  he 
was  convinced  that  the  Pope  had  a  conflict  before 
him,  of  the  magnitude  of  which  he  had  no  concep- 
tion. It  was  not  the  work  of  suppressing  a  single 
individual,  but  that  of  meeting  the  thoroughly 
aroused  indignation  of  a  large  part  of  the  nation. 
Mingling  freely,  on  his  way  to  Saxony,  with  the  most 
influential  circles  at  Augsburg  and  Nuremberg,  he 


124  Martin  Luther  [i&- 

learned  more  and  more  of  the  circumstances  of  the 
controversy.  To  Luther  himself  he  afterwards  ac- 
knowledged that,  of  every  five  men  whom  he  met, 
scarcely  two  or  three  were  on  the  side  of  the  Pope. 
Tetzel,  although  summoned  to  his  presence,  did  not 
venture  to  appear,  the  excuse  being  offered  that  the 
popular  feeling  against  him  was  such  that  he  could 
not  come  to  Altenburg,  except  at  peril  of  his  life. 

The  greatest  respect  and  consideration  were  shown 
Luther  in  the  conference  in  the  house  of  Spalatin,  at 
Altenburg,  during  the  first  week  of  January,  1519. 
Miltitz  freely  conceded  the  extreme  perplexity  of 
the  Papacy  and  the  widespread  sympathy  and  en- 
thusiasm for  Luther  throughout  all  Germany.  He 
was  surprised  at  Luther's  relative  youth  and  vigour, 
having  expected  to  find  an  old  theologian,  who  pre- 
ferred a  quiet  corner  behind  a  warm  stove  from 
which  to  carry  on  his  discussions.  He  would  not 
venture,  he  said,  with  25,000  men,  to  attempt  to 
carry  Luther  across  the  Alps.  Luther  received 
these  professions  for  what  they  were  worth,  regard- 
ing the  tears  shed  by  the  nuncio,  when  he  dwelt 
upon  his  peril,  as  "  crocodile's  tears,"  and  the  kiss, 
with  which  after  dining  together  they  parted,  as 
"  the  kiss  of  Judas."  The  conference  was  not, 
however,  without  some  temporary  prospect  of  re- 
sults. A  German  bishop,  either  of  Treves  or  Saltz- 
burg,  was  to  be  made  arbiter,  the  disputants  on  both 
sides  to  refrain  from  writing  on  indulgences,  Luther 
to  address  another  letter  of  apology  to  the  Pope, 
and  to  prepare  an  address  to  the  people  admonishing 
them  of  the  duty  of  submission. 


1519]         The  Leipzig  Disputation          125 

From  Altenburg  Miltitz  went  to  Leipzig  to  look 
after  Tetzel,  whom  he  reproved  so  severely  that  this 
mortification,  following  the  other  expressions  of 
censure,  hastened  his  physical  decline.  He  died  on 
July  4th,  1519.  The  tenderness  of  Luther's  charac- 
ter appears  in  a  letter  of  consolation  sent  him  during 
his  last  days,  in  which  Luther  assures  him  that  he 
is  not  to  be  regarded  the  author  of  the  trouble,  but 
only  the  agent  of  another.1 

Every  effort  seems  to  have  been  made  by  Miltitz 
to  carry  out  his  part  of  the  program.  A  new 
political  influence  entered  with  the  death  of  the 
Emperor  Maximilian,  January  I2th.  Pending  the 
election  of  a  new  emperor,  the  Elector  of  Saxony 
became  regent  for  Northern  Germany,  and  was  re- 
garded not  only  the  most  influential  ruler  in  the 
country,  but  even  as  the  possible  successor  to  the 
Imperial  throne.  Every  motive  advised  a  more  con- 
ciliatory policy.  Hopes  of  reconciliation  without 
recantation  began  to  dawn  upon  Luther.  If,  on 
the  one  hand,  Miltitz  secured  the  approval  of 
Cajetan,  Luther,  on  the  other,  fulfilled  to  the  letter 
every  promise  he  had  made.  His  apology  to  the 
Pope,  of  March  3d,  was  written  in  an  entirely  differ- 
ent tone  from  his  appeal  to  a  General  Council  of  the 
preceding  December.  It  is  a  combination  of  the 
most  humiliating,  if  not  obsequious,  professions  of 


1  De  Wette,  6 :  18. 

Kostlin  says  that  on  July  4th  Luther  began  his  discussion  at 
Leipzig  with  Tetzel,  "  on  the  day  of  the  evening  of  which  Tetzel 
departed  in  the  Dominican  cloister  at  Leipzig."  Bottcher,  Ger- 
mania  Sacra,  gives  same  date. 


i26  Martin  Luther  [1483- 

respect,  with  the  reassertion  of  his  complete  justifi- 
cation in  regard  to  the  points  in  which  the  contro- 
versy had  originated. 

"  Necessity  forces  me,"  he  writes,  "  as  the  very  dregs 
of  men  and  the  dust  of  the  earth,  to  address  again  Thy 
Holiness  and  Majesty.  Deign  then  to  bend  thy  paternal 
ears,  which  are  truly  those  of  the  Vicar  of  Christ,  to  this 
Thy  little  lamb,  and  attend  to  my  bleating.  .  .  .  What 
am  I  to  thee,  Most  Blessed  Father  ?  I  know  not  what  to 
do.  Thy  wrath  I  cannot  endure  ;  and  yet  how  to  be 
delivered  from  it  I  know  not.  I  am  commanded  to  re- 
call the  discussion.  If  I  could  accomplish  what  is 
intended  by  this  demand,  it  would  be  done  without  de- 
lay. But,  on  account  of  the  resistance  of  my  adversa- 
ries, my  writings  have  been  published  to  a  much  greater 
extent  than  I  had  intended.  They  have  entered  many 
hearts  so  deeply  that  they  cannot  be  recalled.  Nay,  our 
Germany  to-day  flourishes  so  remarkably  in  learning  and 
sound  judgment,  that  however  much  I  desire  to  honour 
the  Roman  Church,  they  cannot  be  recalled.  For  this  is 
impossible  without  bringing  still  greater  disgrace  upon 
the  Roman  Church.  They  whom  I  have  resisted  have 
brought  infamy  and  shame  among  us  in  Germany  upon 
the  Church  of  Rome.  .  .  .  Before  God  and  all  crea- 
tures I  attest  that  I  have  never  wished,  nor  do  I  wish 
to-day,  to  touch  in  any  way  or  plot  against  Thy  power 
and  that  of  the  Roman  Church  ;  on  the  contrary,  I  ac- 
knowledge the  power  of  the  Church  to  be  above  all 
things  ;  nor  is  anything  in  heaven  or  earth  to  be  preferred 
to  it,  except  alone  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  the  Lord  of 
all." ' 

Two   points   of   contrast   distinguish   this    letter 

1  De  Wette,  1 :  233  sq . 


1519]         The  Leipzig  Disputation          127 

from  the  preceding  one  (May  31,  1518)  to  Leo. 
The  struggle  is  no  longer  an  individual  one,  but  that 
of  the  German  people ;  and  it  is  no  longer  the  power 
of  the  Pope,  but  that  of  the  Church,  to  which  he 
declares  himself  ready  to  submit. 

In  the  Instructions  concerning  Some  Articles*  pub- 
lished almost  cotemporaneously  with  the  writing  of 
this  letter,  he  makes  a  statement  on  some  of  the 
topics  concerning  which  his  teaching  had  been  mis- 
represented. It  is  interesting  to  observe  how  gradual 
is  his  progress  towards  the  position  he  ultimately 
attained.  The  invocation  of  saints,  Purgatory,  even 
indulgences,  with  certain  qualifications,  are  ap- 
proved. Miracles,  he  thinks,  are  still  performed  at 
the  tombs  of  saints.  The  great  abuse,  against 
which  he  warns,  is  that  of  seeking  only  temporal 
and  bodily  blessings  instead  of  spiritual  by  their  in- 
tercession. '  Who  now  invokes  them  for  patience, 
faith,  love,  chastity  ?  "  Nor  should  they  be  invoked 
as  though  they  had  the  power,  of  themselves,  to 
bestow  these  things ;  they  secure  them  only  by  their 
intercession  with  God.  Indulgences  are  entirely 
matters  of  freedom.  No  one  sins  who  does  not 
procure  them;  nor  does  one  obtain  merit  through 
their  purchase.  He  who  withholds  needed  help 
from  a  poor  man  in  order  to  purchase  an  indulgence, 
mocks  God.  God's  commandments  are  to  be  es- 
teemed above  those  of  the  Church,  as  gold  and 
precious  stones  are  to  be  preferred  to  wood  and 
stubble. 


1  Weimar,  ii.,  69  sqq. 


128  Martin  Luther  [1483, 

"  A  man  who  swears,  curses,  slanders,  or  refuses  his 
neighbour  needed  assistance  is  much  worse  than  one 
who  eats  meat  or  does  not  fast  on  Friday.  Nevertheless 
both  classes  of  commandments  are  to  be  observed  ;  only 
it  is  advisable  that  to  prevent  their  being  placed  upon  an 
equal  footing,  some  of  the  ecclesiastical  requirements  be 
abolished  in  a  General  Council.  That  the  Roman  Church 
is  honoured  by  God  above  all  others  is  a  matter  of  no 
doubt,  for  there  Sts.  Peter  and  Paul  and  forty-six  popes, 
besides  many  hundred  thousand  martyrs,  have  shed  their 
blood.  Even  though  matters  might  be  better  at  Rome, 
nevertheless  no  reason  can  justify  one  in  separating  from 
this  Church.  Nay,  the  worse  it  is  the  more  should  one 
adhere  to  it.  No  sin  or  evil  can  be  imagined,  for  the 
sake  of  which  the  bonds  of  love  should  be  sundered  and 
spiritual  unity  divided.  But  as  to  the  power  and  sov- 
ereignty of  the  Roman  See,  and  as  to  how  far  it  extends, 
the  learned  must  decide." 

Such  was  the  presentation  of  the  case  made  by 
Luther  in  fulfilment  of  his  promise  to  Miltitz. 

But  the  efforts  of  the  papal  nuncio  were  fruitless. 
At  the  beginning  of  May  he  invited  Luther  to  Co- 
blentz,  where  the  Archbishop  of  Treves  would  hear 
the  case ;  but,  in  the  absence  of  an  invitation  from 
the  Archbishop  himself,  and  of  any  approval  of  the 
propositions  of  Miltitz  by  the  Pope,  he  declined  to 
take  it  into  consideration.  Another  barrier  was  the 
presence  of  Cajetan,  whom  Luther  regarded  as  dis- 
qualified from  any  participation  in  the  arbitration, 
since  he  had  prejudged  the  case  at  Augsburg.  "  I 
doubt,"  writes  Luther,  "  whether  he  be  a  Catholic 
Christian."  A  later  attempt,  in  October,  to  bring 


DR.  JOHN   ECK. 

TRADITIONAL  PORTRAIT. 


i5i9]         The  Leipzig  Disputation          129 

Luther  before  the  Archbishop  at  Liebenwerda  failed 
by  the  absolute  prohibition  of  the  Elector  after 
Luther  had  responded  that  he  was  ready. 

Circumstances  had  changed.  The  agreement  of 
mutual  silence  awaiting  an  arbitration  had  been 
broken  by  the  champions  of  the  Papacy. 

Two  habitual  agitators,  both  fond  of  controversy 
and  ambitious  of  fame,  one  on  the  side  of  Rome 
and  the  other  on  the  side  of  Luther,  Eck  and  Carl- 
stadt,  could  not  be  suppressed.  With  Luther,  Eck's 
controversy  had  ceased  with  the  latter's  apology; 
and,  as  neither  had  published  his  paper,  there 
was  no  reason  for  its  renewal.  But  Carlstadt,  who 
had  changed  from  an  unfriendly  critic  to  a  radical 
and  injudicious  advocate  of  Luther's  course,  had 
posted  up  theses  attacking  Eck,  which  occasioned 
much  irritation  and  wrangling.  Eck  proposed  a 
public  discussion,  and  Carlstadt  eagerly  assented. 
Luther,  while  not  regarding  himself  involved,  was 
favourable  to  the  plan,  "  in  order  that  there  might 
be  an  end  of  the  dispute  and  the  writing  of  books," 
that  the  world  might  see  that  theologians  not  only 
can  fight,  but  can  also  come  to  an  agreement.  In- 
golstadt,  Eck's  home,  being  in  the  near  neighbour- 
hood of  Augsburg,  Luther,  during  his  appearance 
before  Cajetan,  had  private  conferences  with  Eck, 
in  which  the  arrangements  for  the  proposed  discus- 
sion were  considered,  as  Carlstadt  had  requested. 
The  Wittenberg  theologians  invited  Eck  to  meet 
Carlstadt  in  their  University ;  but  he  declined  the 
invitation,  expressing  a  preference  for  Cologne, 
Paris,  or  Rome,  where  the  discussion  would  attract 

9 


130  Martin  Luther  [i483- 

more  attention;  but  to  this  Luther  objected. 
Finally,  either  Erfurt  or  Leipzig  was  agreed  upon, 
and  Carlstadt  leaving  the  choice  to  Eck,  the  latter 
was  chosen.  A  joint  letter  from  the  two  disputants 
requesting  the  hospitality  of  the  University  of  Leip- 
zig met  with  a  cold  reception.  The  professors 
dreaded  having  their  academic  calm  disturbed  by 
what  they  apprehended  might  be  a  furious  storm. 
The  Bishop  of  Merseburg,  within  whose  jurisdiction 
Leipzig  lay,  supported  them  in  their  opposition. 
But  their  protests  were  disregarded  by  Duke  George, 
who  was  anxious  that  the  opportunity  should  be 
used  to  bring  his  University  into  prominence,  and 
who  was  annoyed  at  the  indolence  and  want  of 
enterprise  shown  by  his  scholars. 

As  he  had  issued  the  challenge,  Eck  published, 
six  months  in  advance,  the  theses  which  he  would 
make  the  basis  of  the  discussion.  Luther,  receiving 
them  shortly  after  his  conference  with  Miltitz,  was 
astonished  to  find  that  the  subjects  of  controversy 
with  Carlstadt  were  almost  entirely  ignored,  and 
that  Eck,  quoting  passage  after  passage  from  Lu- 
ther's own  writings,  declared  himself  ready  to  refute 
them.  His  indignation  was  thoroughly  aroused  be- 
cause of  the  underhanded  manner  in  which  the 
attack  was  made.  No  other  course  was  open  than 
to  immediately  announce  his  readiness  to  respond. 
All  obligations  to  silence  were  binding  only  if  mutu- 
ally observed.  Cajetan  could  soon  have  silenced 
Eck,  if  his  theses  had  not  met  his  approval.  First 
in  an  open  letter  to  Carlstadt,  and  then  in  a  series 
of  counter-theses,  Luther  exposes  Eck's  duplicity 


i5i9]         The  Leipzig  Disputation 

and  repels  his  propositions.  From  that  time  it  is 
manifest  that  the  focus  of  any  discussion  between 
them  must  be  in  the  closing  thesis;  Eck  affirming: 
"  We  deny  the  assertion  that  the  Roman  Church 
was  not  superior  to  other  churches  before  the  time 
of  Sylvester;  but  we  acknowledge  him  who  has  the 
see  and  faith  of  St.  Peter,  as  the  perpetual  successor 
of  St.  Peter,  and  the  general  vicar  of  Christ  " ;  and 
Luther: 

"  That  the  Roman  Church  is  superior  to  all  others  is 
proved  from  the  most  silly  decrees  of  the  Roman  pon- 
tiffs who  have  been  born  within  the  last  four  hundred 
years  ;  against  which  is  the  approved  history  of  fifteen 
hundred  years,  the  text  of  the  Holy  Scripture,  and  the 
decree  of  the  Council  of  Nice,  the  most  holy  of  all 
councils."  ' 

With  reference  to  the  discussion,  he  undertook 
the  most  thorough  historical  investigations  which 
the  numerous  engagements  of  that  winter,  crowded 
with  work,  would  admit.  His  daily  lectures  in  the 
University,  the  attendance  upon  the  daily  devotional 
services,  his  daily  expositions  to  children  of  the  Ten 
Commandments  and  the  Lord's  Prayer,  the  publica- 
tion in  April  of  the  first  part  of  his  Commentary  on 
the  Psalms,  the  preparation  of  his  renowned  explana- 
tion of  the  Epistle  to  the  Galatians,  and  his  Medi- 
tations on  the  Passion  of  Christ,  all  of  which  belong 
to  this  period,  together  with  his  incessant  corre- 
spondence, left  so  little  time,  that  the  preparation 

1  Op.  var.  arg.t  ii.,  17. 


132  Martin  Luther  [i483~ 

of  a  treatise  on  the  power  of  the  Pope  would  have 
seemed  out  of  the  question.  On  this  topic  he  also 
carried  on  a  correspondence  with  Duengersheim, 
one  of  the  Leipzig  theologians,  to  whom  he  wrote : 

"With  you  and  Eck  it  is  customary  to  accept  the 
statements  of  all  the  Fathers,  and  to  interpret  the  words 
of  Scripture  by  those  of  the  Fathers,  as  though  they  pre- 
ferred to  draw  us  to  themselves  rather  than  to  Scripture. 
My  custom,  however,  is,  following  the  example  of  Au- 
gustine, to  trace  the  streams  to  their  fountain."  * 

The  Resolutio  of  Luther,  which  issued  from  the 
press  cotemporaneously  with  the  Leipzig  discus- 
sion for  fear  that  he  might  not  be  allowed  to  appear 
there,  sets  the  two  concluding  theses  to  be  con- 
sidered in  the  debate  over  against  each  other,  treats 
of  the  Scriptural  passages  generally  quoted  in  sup- 
port of  the  Pope's  supremacy,  and  then  enters  into 
the  examination  of  its  historical  foundations.9  In 
this  treatise  Luther  affirms  that  the  power  of  the 
keys  belongs  not  to  the  Pope,  but  to  the  Church, 
and  that  the  Church  is  not  the  hierarchy,  but  the 
communion  of  saints.  The  study  of  this  earlier 
brochure  is  necessary  for  those  who  desire  to  under- 
stand the  appendix  to  the  Schmalkald  Articles, 
the  material  for  which  appears  here  in  a  crude 
form. 

Much  difficulty  was  experienced  by  Luther  in 
securing  the  consent  of  Duke  George  to  his  appear- 
ance at  Leipzig  and  participation  in  the  disputation. 

1  De  Wette,  I  :  220  ;  cf.  p.  280  sq. 

1  Weimar,  ii.,  180  sqq.  ;  Op,  var.  arg.^  iii.,  293  sqq. 


The  Leipzig  Disputation          133 

The  matter  was  finally  arranged  by  giving  the  safe- 
conduct  to  Carlstadt,  and  all  who  would  accompany 
him.  Thus  he  entered  Leipzig,  as  he  said,  "  under 
Carlstadt 's  wings."  As  the  time  approaches,  he  is 
prepared  for  the  conflict  by  a  sense  of  his  unwor- 
thiness  and  sinfulness  that  almost  completely  over- 
whelms him.  He  pours  forth  his  heart  to  his 
friend,  the  prior  Lange,  and  asks  his  prayers.  Mean- 
while, in  view  of  the  rage  of  his  enemies,  he  writes : 
"  Rome  glows  for  my  destruction,  and  in  derision  I 
freeze. ' ' 

On  Friday,  June  24th,  a  notable  procession  en- 
tered Leipzig,  with  Carlstadt  in  the  first  vehicle, 
immediately  followed  by  Luther  and  Melanchthon, 
Amsdorf ,  Agricola,  Lange,  and  two  hundred  Witten- 
berg students,  with  spears  and  halberds,  who  at- 
tended them.  It  was  regarded  a  bad  omen  for 
Carlstadt  when  his  carriage  broke  down  almost  at 
the  gate,  precipitating  him  into  the  mud,  and  com- 
pelling Luther  to  take  the  first  place  in  the  line  as  it 
passed  through  the  streets.  No  such  formal  wel- 
come greeted  them  as  had  been  accorded  Eck  on  the 
two  preceding  days.  The  intense  interest  in  the 
discussion,  however,  was  evidenced  by  the  streams 
of  ecclesiastics  and  others  that  poured  into  the  city. 
Although  Eck  was  reluctant,  it  was  agreed  that 
notaries  should  be  employed  to  take  down  all  that 
was  said,  a  process  which  at  that  time  was  very 
tedious.  Carlstadt  also  assented  to  Eck's  proposi- 
tion that  nothing  should  be  published  unless  it  had 
been  approved  by  a  board  of  censors,  but  Luther 
withheld  his  agreement  until  the  last  moment, 


134  Martin  Luther  [1483, 

when,  at  the  urgent  request  of  friends,  he  yielded 
the  point.1 

The  hall  of  the  University  being  too  small  for  the 
audience,  the  Elector  devoted  the  reception-room 
of  his  castle  to  the  purpose.  On  Monday,  June 
2/th,  the  disputation  was  opened  with  the  most 
elaborate  formalities.  At  seven  o'clock  in  the 
morning  the  representatives  of  the  two  sides  met  in 
the  University,  from  which  they  proceeded  in  pairs, 
a  Wittenberger  and  a  Leipzig  man  together,  to  St. 
Thomas's  Church,  where  Mass  was  celebrated  with 
a  musical  program  of  unusual  excellence.  Re- 
pairing thence  to  the  castle,  they  found  it  guarded 
by  seventy-five  Leipzig  citizens,  who  remained  on 
duty  throughout  the  disputation.  The  hall  was 
festally  adorned.  Four  notaries  and  thirty  reporters 
were  prepared  for  their  duty.  The  morning  was 
consumed  by  an  address  on  "  The  Proper  Mode  of 
Disputing"  by  Mosellanus,  one  of  the  professors. 
The  address  ended,  the  Vent  Sancte  Spiritus  was 
sung  on  bended  knees,  and  the  audience  dismissed 
for  the  noon  intermission. 

In  the  afternoon  the  discussion  began.  Eck  and 
Carlstadt  devoted  an  entire  week  to  discussing  the 
question  of  the  freedom  of  the  will.  Cotemporaries 
have  left  graphic  descriptions  of  the  two  contestants. 
Mosellanus,  who  made  the  introductory  address, 
describes  Eck  as  a  man  of  powerful  frame,  with  a 
square  chest,  a  stentorian  voice,  and  a  countenance 

1  Documents  pertaining  to  Leipzig  disputation  in  Loescher,  Hi., 
2I4~55°  ;  official  report  as  recorded  by  notaries  in  Weimar,  ii.,  250- 
384;  Op.  var.  arg.t  iii.,  18-217;  Walch,  xv.,  999-1492. 


1519]         The  Leipzig  Disputation          135 

that  would  be  taken  rather  for  that  of  a  butcher  than 
of  a  theologian.1  His  strength  lay  in  his  remark- 
able memory  rather  than  in  acuteness  of  perception 
or  logical  order.  "  Incredible  audacity,  covered  with 
rare  cunning,"*  marked  his  conduct  throughout. 
Carlstadt,  on  the  other  hand,  was  of  small  stature, 
swarthy  complexion,  and  weak  and  disagreeable 
voice,  with  hesitating  delivery,  and  a  fiery  temper. 
Objecting  to  the  use  of  books,  from  which  Carlstadt 
was  prepared  to  make  citations,  and  sustained  in 
this  by  the  judges,  Eck  swept  everything  before  him 
by  his  ponderous  volubility.  All  evidence  being 
ruled  out  that  had  not  been  committed  to  memory, 
the  contest  ceased  to  be  one  of  facts,  and  became 
nothing  more  than  a  mnemonic  tournament.  The 
week  was  wasted  in  a  mere  war  of  words,  Amsdorf, 
an  eye-witness,  asserting  that  Eck  ended  by  agree- 
ing with  Carlstadt,  and  claiming  to  have  forced  the 
latter  to  his  position.  With  astonishment  Melanch- 
thon  looked  on,  while  the  oppressive  heat  and  the 
tedious  talk  put  a  large  part  of  the  audience  to 
sleep. 

"Here  I  first  learned,"  he  writes,  "what  the  ancients 
mean  by  playing  the  sophist.  Wonderful  was  the  flour- 
ish and  tragic  manner  in  which  everything  was  done, 
and  as  a  consequence,  it  is  not  surprising  that  nothing  of 
importance  was  accomplished.  The  Holy  Spirit  loves 
silence,  in  which  He  steals  into  our  hearts  and  makes 
His  home  with  those  intent,  not  upon  vainglory,  but 
upon  learning  the  truth.  The  Bride  of  Christ  does  not 

1  Letter  of  Mosellanus  in  Loescher,  iii.,  248. 
1  Loescher,  iii.,  238. 


136  Martin  Luther  [i483- 

stand  upon  the  porch,  but  brings  her  spouse  into  the 
house  of  her  mother.  Nor  do  any  rays  of  heavenly  wis- 
dom illumine  us  until  we  have  first  been  purified  by  the 
cross,  and  made  dead  to  the  elements  of  the  world."  ' 

Two  holidays  relieved  the  hearers  of  that  weari- 
some discussion,  on  one  of  which,  June  29th,  the 
day  of  SS.  Peter  and  Paul,  Luther  preached,  at 
the  invitation  of  the  Duke,  in  the  hall  in  which  the 
discussions  were  held,  all  the  churches  of  Leipzig 
being  closed  to  him,  and  the  chapel  of  the  castle 
being  insufficient  to  accommodate  the  audience. 
Taking  for  his  text  the  gospel  for  the  day,  Matt, 
xvi.,  13-19,  without  an  introduction  he  immediately 
entered  upon  the  discussion  of  the  topics  that  were 
uppermost  in  all  minds.  '  This  gospel,"  he  began, 
"  comprises  all  matters  involved  in  the  disputations; 
for  it  treats  of  two  things :  First,  the  grace  of  God 
and  our  free  will;  and,  secondly,  the  power  of  St. 
Peter  and  the  keys."  Then  in  brief,  clear,  and 
forcible  sentences,  avoiding  altogether  the  language 
of  the  schools,  he  goes  to  the  very  heart  of  the  sub- 
jects, speaking  in  an  entirely  different  tone  from 
either  of  the  two  contestants,  as  one  who  had 
learned  to  treat  of  these  questions  from  an  inner 
life-struggle,  and  who  spoke  from  overpowering 
conviction,  instead  of  for  a  display  of  learning,  or 
of  accomplishments  as  a  debater.  Finding  the 
answer  to  the  question  concerning  the  free  will  in 
the  words:  "  Flesh  and  blood  have  not  revealed  it 
unto  thee,"  he  declares  that  if  we  want  to  learn  how 
to  become  godly,  the  very  first  thing  is  to  despair 

1  Loescher,  iii.,  218  ;  C.  R.,  1 :  92. 


i5i9]         The  Leipzig  Disputation         13? 

of  self,  and  that  the  Christian's  whole  life  consists 
in  a  constant  renunciation  of  his  own  thoughts, 
words,  and  works,  and  a  relying  solely  upon  Christ, 
as  in  Ps.  xlii.,  I.  The  question  of  the  power  of  the 
Pope,  he  says,  does  not  concern  the  common  man, 
but  only  that  of  how  this  power  is  to  be  used  to 
edification.  The  power  of  the  keys  was  given  to 
St.  Peter;  not,  however,  in  his  own  person,  but  in 
that  of  the  Church. 

"  It  is  given  you  and  me  for  the  consolation  of  our 
consciences.  St.  Peter  or  a  priest  is  only  the  servant  of 
the  keys.  The  Church  is  the  bride  whom  he  is  to  serve 
with  the  keys,  as  we  see  in  the  daily  practice,  whereby 
the  sacrament  is  administered  to  all  who  desire  it  of  the 
priests.  .  .  .  The  power  of  the  keys,  therefore,  aids 
not  the  priests,  but  the  sinful  and  timid  consciences,  who 
there  receive  grace  through  faith." ' 

This  was  not  only  in  anticipation  of  the  discussion 
that  was  soon  to  follow  with  Eck,  but  also  indicated 
the  far-reaching  bearing  of  the  entire  controversy 
upon  the  interests  of  the  people,  as  well  as  of  theo- 
logians. Eck  sought  to  counteract  the  effect  by 
sermons  preached  in  the  churches  of  the  city. 

Excited  discussions  were  occurring  at  every  place 
where  men  met.  Special  policemen  were  required 
to  guard  the  lodging-places  of  the  Wittenberg 
students.  The  Leipzig  professors,  with  one  or  two 
exceptions,  took  pains  to  show  that  their  sympathies 
were  with  Eck.  The  Duke  attempted  to  make  up 
for  their  lack  of  hospitality  by  inviting  the  three 

1  Weimar,  ii.,  241  sqq. 


138  Martin  Luther 

contestants  to  dine  with  him.  At  Luther's  entrance 
into  one  of  the  churches,  it  is  reported  the  conse- 
crated elements  were  hastily  removed. 

The  feeling  reached  its  climax  when,  on  Monday, 
July  4th,  Luther  came  forward  to  discuss  the  primacy 
of  the  Pope.  The  Leipzig  professor,  above  cited, 
notes  his  medium  stature,  slender  person,  emaciated 
by  study  and  anxieties,  prominent  bones,  acute  and 
clear  voice,  wonderful  learning  and  knowledge  of 
Scripture,  his  readiness  and  eloquence  in  public  de- 
bate, the  entire  absence  of  everything  stoical  and 
supercilious,  his  affability,  geniality,  and  cheerful- 
ness in  private  intercourse,  with  the  criticism  that, 
as  many  thought,  in  his  attacks  he  was  more  acri- 
monious than  was  becoming  a  theologian.1  As  he 
ascended  the  platform,  he  wore  a  silver  ring,  and 
held  a  bouquet  in  his  hand,  which  he  so  frequently 
applied  to  his  nostrils,  as  the  discussion  progressed, 
that  some  suggested  that  the  devil  was  hidden 
among  the  flowers.  Agricola  acted  as  his  amanuen- 
sis, while  Melanchthon  was  at  hand  to  advise  him  be- 
tween the  sessions.  Thoroughly  loyal,  so  far,  to 
the  Pope,  just  as  to  his  temporal  sovereign,  but  re- 
garding both  as  deriving  their  authority  only  from 
human  law,  Luther  began  by  expressing  his  regret 
that  a  question,  which  he  feared  might  derogate 
from  the  honour  due  His  Holiness,  had  been  so 
unnecessarily  agitated  by  Eck's  uncalled-for  attack. 


1  Loescher,  iii.,  247  :  "  Martinus  statura  est  mediocri,  corpora 
macilento,  curis  pariter  et  studiis  exhausto,  sicut  propius  intuenti 
omnia  pcene  ossa  liceat  dinumerare.  ...  In  congressibus  fes- 
tivus,  jucundus,  alacris  et  securus  ubique,  semper  laeta  facie  florens." 


r  ilia  Mini  Lutijrr  in 
ftu&to  Efpffnfiftittira. 


J_u 


in 


n 


Jiii 


1 1 


TITLE-PAGE  OF  ECK'S  "  LEIPZIG  ARTICLES." 


i5i9]         The  Leipzig  Disputation         139 

He  also  regretted  the  absence  of  those  persons  who 
had  so  often  charged  him  with  heresy,  and  who, 
nevertheless,  when  the  case  was  to  be  considered, 
were  without  sufficient  interest  in  it  to  be  present. 
Eck  in  reply  proceeded  to  attack  Luther's  thesis,  that 
the  text  of  Holy  Scripture,  and  the  accepted  history 
of  1 100  years,  are  opposed  to  the  supremacy  of  the 
Church  of  Rome  over  other  churches.  The  Church 
Militant,  he  urges,  must  be  conformed  to  the  model 
of  the  Church  Triumphant ;  as  the  latter  has  a  Head, 
so  also  must  the  former.  Luther  replies  that  he  has 
never  denied  this.  Eck  asks:  "  Who,  then,  is  the 
monarch,  if  the  Bishop  of  Rome  be  not  ?  "  "  No 
one  but  Christ,"  answers  Luther,  "  and  this  I 
affirm  by  divine  authority,  I  Cor.  xv.,  25;  Matt, 
xxviii.,  20 ;  Acts  ix.,  5.  They  who  would  expel 
Christ  from  the  Church  Militant  to  the  Church 
Triumphant  are  not  to  be  heard,  since  His  kingdom 
is  one  of  faith."  l  In  support  of  this,  he  entered 
upon  a  long  argument  from  Holy  Scripture,  and 
cited  and  commented  upon  numerous  passages  from 
Augustine  and  other  Fathers,  but  Eck  objects  that 
Luther  has  just  prepared  a  book  on  the  subject, 
while  his  many  engagements  have  prevented  him 
from  making  such  elaborate  preparations,  and  then 
wrestles  as  well  as  he  can  with  the  patristic  citations 
concerning  the  original  identity  of  bishops  and  pres- 
byters, the  equality  of  the  apostles,  etc.*  The  dis- 
cussion begins  to  grow  heavy,  as  it  enters  into  the 
exegesis  of  particular  texts,  and  the  explanation,  in 
their  connection,  of  the  passages  quoted  by  each 
1  Weimar,  ii.,  257.  */<*.,  260. 


140  Martin  Luther 

side  from  the  Fathers.  But  the  interest  becomes 
intense  when,  on  the  morning  of  the  second  day, 
Eck  ends  one  of  his  speeches  with  the  words : 

"  I  beg  pardon  of  the  venerable  Father  if  I  am  severe 
towards  the  Bohemians  (I  speak  not  of  Christians,  but 
of  schismatics)  as  enemies  of  the  Church  ;  and  that,  in 
the  present  disputation,  I  am  mindful  of  them,  since  the 
Conclusio  itself  and  that  which  was  declared  yesterday, 
viz.,  that  the  primacy  of  the  Church  is  established  by 
human  law,  in  my  insignificant  judgment,  favours  very 
much  their  errors.  This  is  presented  at  the  present 
time  in  order  that  we  may  hear  the  opinion  and  explana- 
tion of  the  Reverend  Father."  ' 

Luther  was  indignant.  He  always  had  disap- 
proved, he  said,  and  would  disapprove  of  the  schis- 
matic course  of  the  Bohemians  as  a  violation  of  the 
supreme  divine  law,  viz.,  that  of  love.  "  But  why 
does  not  the  learned  Doctor  make  use  of  his  memory 
and  talents  in  refuting  their  errors  ?  It  is  remark- 
able that,  while  there  are  so  many  who  make  charges 
against  the  Bohemians,  there  is  no  one  who,  to  the 
glory  of  the  Roman  Church,  has  deemed  it  worth 
while  to  refute  them."  *  "  It  is  certain  that  among 
the  articles  of  John  Hus,  there  are  many  that  are 
absolutely  Christian  and  evangelical,  which  the 
Church  Universal  cannot  condemn,  as,  e,  g.,  that 
there  is  but  one  universal  Church."  *  At  this  point 
Duke  George,  who  had  followed  the  disputation 
with  the  deepest  interest,  cried  out:  "  Plague  on 

'Weimar,  ii.,  275.  */£.,  278.  */<J.,  279. 


The  Leipzig  Disputation         141 

it!"  Luther  had  aroused  the  prejudices  even  of 
those  not  hostile  to  him ;  but  he  calmly  continued 
that,  by  the  condemnation  of  such  a  statement,  the 
article  of  the  Creed,  "  I  believe  that  there  is  a  Holy 
Catholic  Church,  the  Communion  of  Saints,"  also 
was  condemned.  But  passing  by  Wiclif  and  Hus, 
the  non-acceptance  of  the  supremacy  of  the  Pope 
by  the  Greek  Church  proved  that  it  was  not  an  es- 
sential of  salvation. 

"  I  know,"  he  continued,  "  that  Gregory  Nazianzen, 
Basil  the  Great,  Epiphanius  Cyprius,  and  innumerable 
other  Greek  bishops  are  saved,  and  yet  they  did  not  hold 
this  article.  Neither  is  it  in  the  power  of  the  Roman 
pontiff  to  frame  new  articles  of  faith,  but  only  to  judge 
according  to  those  already  framed.  Nor  can  any  faith- 
ful Christian  be  compelled  to  anything,  beyond  the 
Holy  Scriptures,  which  constitute,  properly  speaking,  the 
divine  law,  unless  a  new  and  approved  revelation  be 
added.  Aye,  by  divine  law  we  are  forbidden  believing 
anything  except  what  is  proved  either  from  Scripture  or 
by  manifest  revelation.1  ...  If  then  the  distinguished 
doctor  presses  me  with  the  example  of  the  Bohemians, 
not  yet  a  hundred  years  old,  I  press  upon  him  that  of 
the  Eastern  Church,  the  greater  *  part  of  the  Universal 
Church,  fourteen  hundred  years  old.  If  they  be  heretics 
because  they  do  not  acknowledge  the  Roman  pontiff,  I 
must  accuse  my  opponent  of  being  a  heretic  for  daring 
to  assert  that  so  many  saints  throughout  the  Church 
Universal  are  lost." 

The  opportunity  for  which  Eck  had  been  seeking 

1  Weimar,  ii. ,  279. 

*/£.,  280:  Orientalem  eccleriam  meliorcm  fartem  universalis 
ecclesia. 


142  Martin  Luther  [1483- 

was  now  his.  Luther  had  pronounced  some  of  the 
articles  of  Hus  most  Christian  and  evangelical,  not- 
withstanding the  fact  that  the  Council  of  Constance 
had  condemned  them !  Hitherto  he  had  appealed 
from  the  authority  of  the  Pope  to  that  of  councils; 
but  now  even  councils  are  pronounced  fallible.  "  If 
the  Reverend  Father,"  said  Eck,  "  believes  that  a 
council  can  err,  he  is  to  me  a  heathen  and  a  publi- 
can."1 The  wonderful  tact  of  the  Ingolstadt  pro- 
fessor was  equalled  only  by  his  coolness  and  bland 
courtesy,  which  contrasts  favourably  with  the  violent 
language  Luther  occasionally  used.  As  Ranke  has 
noted,  this  disputation  was  held  not  far  from  the 
borders  of  Bohemia,  in  a  district  that  had  suffered 
severely  from  the  Hussite  war,  in  a  university 
founded  to  oppose  the  teachings  of  Hus,  and  before 
an  audience  of  princes  and  others  whose  fathers  had 
fought  in  that  war.  No  affiliation  could  have  been 
more  unpopular.  The  liberal  party  in  the  Church 
had  placed  great  emphasis  upon  the  authority  of  the 
Council  of  Constance  in  its  antagonism  to  the  Pope ; 
but  against  them  also,  Luther  was  now  arrayed. 
The  calamity  was,  however,  only  a  seeming  one. 
Luther  had  been  led  in  the  heat  of  the  conflict  to 
the  logical  result  of  his  premises ;  and  although  at 
first  struggling  against  it,  as  he  had  struggled  at 
every  previous  step  forward,  he  gladly  accepted  the 
consequences,  for  in  so  doing  he  believed  that  he 


1  Weimar,  ii.,  311  ;  Loescher,  iii.,  398  :  "Hoc  dico  vobis,  rever- 
ende  pater,  si  creditis  concilium  legitime  congregatum  errare  et 
errasse,  estis  mihi  sicut  ethnicus  et  publicanus." 


LUTHER. 

FROM  THE  TITLE-PAGE  OF  LUTHER'S  TREATISE   "THE  BABYLONIAN  CAPTIVITY  OF  THE  CHURCH,"  1520. 


1519]         The  Leipzig  Disputation         143 

was  following  the  only  course  that  God's  Word  left 
open  for  him. 

The  remainder  of  the  disputation  was  of  compara- 
tively little  importance.  Five  days  had  been  devoted 
to  the  discussion  of  the  Papacy;  four  more  were 
given  to  purgatory,  indulgences,  and  penance.  On 
indulgences,  Eck  was  very  moderate  and  concilia- 
tory. The  only  item  of  moment,  during  those 
days,  was  the  answer  made  by  Luther  to  a  quota- 
tion from  the  Second  Book  of  Maccabees,  in  which 
he  draws  the  distinction  between  the  canonical  and 
apocryphal  books.  Luther  closed  the  long  debate 
with  the  words: 

"  I  regret  that  the  Doctor  penetrates  no  more  deeply 
into  the  meaning  of  Scripture  than  a  spider  does  into 
water  ;  nay,  he  seems  to  flee  from  its  face  as  the  devil 
flees  from  the  cross.  Wherefore,  with  all  due  respect  to 
the  Fathers,  I  prefer  the  authority  of  Scripture,  which  I 
commend  to  future  judges." ' 

After  a  further  discussion  for  a  day  or  two  with 
Carlstadt,  the  disputation  ended  when  the  Duke  asked 
for  the  room  in  which  it  was  held  for  the  reception 
of  guests.  Eck,  with  indefatigable  perseverance, 
would  have  been  glad  had  the  discussion  continued 
indefinitely.  An  adjournment  was  reached  on  the 
1 5th  or  i6th  of  July,  copies  of  the  proceedings 
having  been  sent  for  arbitration  to  the  faculties  of 
Paris  and  Erfurt.  Eck  insisting  that  the  Augustin- 
ians  in  the  Erfurt  Faculty  should  not  be  allowed  to 
participate  in  the  decision,  Luther  made  similar  ob- 

1  Weimar,  ii.,  382. 


144  Martin  Luther  [1483- 

jection  to  the  Dominicans  and  Franciscans,  and 
finally  made  the  astonishing  proposition  that  the 
members  of  the  other  faculties  should  be  included 
among  the  judges,  thus  asserting  the  rights  of  the 
laity,  in  accordance  with  the  statement  he  had  made 
during  the  discussion,  "  that  a  layman  who  has  the 
Scriptures  is  more  to  be  trusted  than  Pope  and 
council  without  them."  These  demands  were  not 
granted.  Erfurt,  owing  to  the  presence  of  John 
Lange  as  one  of  the  professors,  and  probably  averse 
to  a  controversy  with  Luther,  never  responded. 
Paris  published  its  decision,  but  not  until  two  years 
later,  and  then,  not  upon  the  discussion  at  Leipzig, 
but  upon  passages  in  Luther's  works.  Cologne  and 
Louvain  hastened,  however,  to  give  their  decisions. 
Opinions  as  to  the  results  were  very  conflicting, 
and  varied  with  the  standard  adopted  for  the  de- 
cision, and  with  the  standpoint  of  the  critic.  In 
clever  diplomacy,  Eck  had  shown  himself  supe- 
rior to  Luther,  but  in  candour  and  earnestness,  as 
well  as  in  knowledge  of  Scripture  and  submission  to 
its  declarations,  Luther  was  the  master.  With  a 
heavy  heart,  Luther  left  Leipzig,  while  Carlstadt 
was  still  in  controversy  with  Eck.  Instead  of  the 
peace  that  he  had  hoped  might  ensue,  he  found 
himself  thrust  forward  still  further  into  the  battle. 
But  what  grieved  him  most  was  that,  in  all  the 
tedious  proceedings,  so  little  attention  was  given  to 
the  subjects  belonging  to  the  very  centre  of  Christ- 
ianity, as  that  of  the  justification  of  sinful  man 
before  God,  on  which  he  was  ever  ready  to  speak, 
but  for  whose  treatment  there  had  been  neither  oc- 


i5i9]         The  Leipzig  Disputation         145 

casion  nor  interest.  His  object  in  going  before  the 
conclusion  of  the  debate  was  to  meet  his  spiritual 
father,  Staupitz,  at  Grimma,  and  be  refreshed  by  his 
sympathy  and  advice. 

Numerous  accounts  of  the  debate  were  published 
by  eye-witnesses,  or  by  those  to  whom  they  wrote. 
Eck,  also,  who,  in  his  elation,  had  remained  at 
Leipzig  nine  days  after  the  adjournment,  boasting 
much  that  he  had  triumphed,  was  determined  to 
carry  the  controversy  to  a  still  greater  length.  To 
meet  all  misrepresentations,  Luther  prepared  what 
may  be  called  a  commentary  upon  his  theses  dis- 
cussed in  Leipzig,  with  a  statement  of  the  argument 
as  presented  by  both  sides.1  No  attempt  is  made 
to  recede  from  the  position  to  which  in  the  heat  of 
the  contest  Eck  had  forced  him.  On  the  contrary, 
he  shows  the  Scriptural  foundations  on  which  it 
rests.  Eck's  vindictiveness  is  shown  in  a  letter  to 
the  Elector,  asking  that  Luther's  books  be  burned, 
and  in  an  acrimonious  attack  upon  Melanchthon  for 
an  account  of  the  transactions  at  Leipzig,  which  the 
latter  had  sent  to  Oecolampadius.  The  able  answer 
was  Melanchthon's  first  attempt  at  polemics.  A 
satire  against  Eck,  published  at  Nuremberg,  was 
distasteful  to  Luther,  since  he  regarded  the  subject 
as  too  serious  for  such  flippant  treatment.  Jerome 
Emser,  of  Dresden,  having  attempted  to  prejudice 
the  Bohemians  against  Luther,  because  of  his  dis- 
claimer to  the  charge  that  he  approved  their  course, 
and  having  represented  him  as  having  condemned 
them  without  qualification,  he  handled  this  niischief- 

1  Weimar,  ii.,  388  sqq. 


146  Martin  Luther  [1483- 

maker  without  gloves  in  a  protracted  controversy. 
The  offence  was  all  the  more  irritating,  if  the  state- 
ment be  correct  that  during  the  proceedings  at 
Leipzig  the  Bohemians  had  held  public  prayers  for 
him.  Towards  them  he  was  greatly  drawn  by  the 
new  conception  of  the  nature  of  the  Church  that 
had  suddenly  come  to  him  at  Leipzig.  He  began 
to  study  the  writings  of  Hus.  A  few  months  later 
he  writes:  "  Hus's  doctrine  I  have  already  taught 
without  knowing  it ;  so  has  Staupitz.  We  have  all 
been  unconsciously  Hussites,  as  are  also  Paul  and 
Augustine."  He  predicts  that  the  judgments  of 
God  must  fall  upon  a  world  in  which  the  doctrine 
of  the  Gospel,  for  over  a  hundred  years,  has  been 
branded,  as  though  condemned  of  God. 

Another  step  forward  was  made  in  the  open  re- 
pudiation of  auricular  confession  in  his  answer  to 
certain  articles  of  the  Jueterbock  Franciscans,  which 
had  been  inspired,  if  not  composed,  by  Eck.1  With 
every  treatise  written  Luther's  attitude  toward  the 
Papacy  becomes  more  decided.  From  his  discovery 
of  the  contradiction  between  the  Papacy  and  the 
Holy  Scriptures,  he  has  at  last  reached  the  convic- 
tion that  this  contradiction  is  irreconcilable.  While 
he  is  thus  progressing  from  the  side  of  the  practical 
demands  of  the  Christian  life,  Melanchthon  is  reach- 
ing the  same  position  from  the  scientific  side  in  his 
work  of  reducing  to  system  and  tracing  the  Script- 
ural grounds  of  what  has  thus  far  been  attained. 
Every  fruit  of  their  studies  and  struggles  is  immedi- 
ately applied  to  practice,  and  is  made  a  part  of  their 

1  Weimar,  ii.,  621  sqq. 


1519]          The  Leipzig  Disputation          147 

lives ;  for  they  were  not  mere  theorisers.  To  the 
world,  Luther's  figure  as  a  controversialist  over- 
shadows all  else;  but  at  Wittenberg,  it  was  only 
incidental  to  what  appeared  to  be,  if  possible,  the 
more  engrossing  duties  of  the  conscientious  teacher, 
the  eloquent  preacher,  the  faithful  witness,  the 
vigilant  shepherd  of  souls,  the  most  considerate  and 
obliging  of  friends.  In  every  great  crisis  of  his  life, 
the  Psalms  were  his  favourite  study ;  and,  in  prepar- 
ing his  lectures  upon  them  after  his  return  from 
Leipzig,  he  found  refuge  from  the  strife  of  tongues. 
In  his  lectures  on  Galatians,  he  gives  expression  to 
the  faith  of  his  heart  on  the  central  truths  of  Christ- 
ianity, in  language  that  has  made  them  a  favourite 
in  many  lands  and  tongues  and  ages,  and  to  men  of 
diverse  creeds.  In  his  Tessaradecas,  or  Fourteen 
Consolations  for  the  Weary  and  Heavy  Laden*  he 
shows  the  power  of  the  Gospel  to  heal  a  broken 
heart.  Prepared  for  the  Elector  in  his  illness,  he 
borrows  the  manuscript  afterwards  when  he  needs 
the  consolation  he  has  offered  to  another,  but  can- 
not recall.  In  sermons  on  the  sacraments,  he  un- 
folds a  deeper  meaning  of  Baptism,  the  Lord's  Sup- 
per, and  Repentance  than  had  hitherto  been  taught, 
or  he  had  previously  entertained.2  In  his  sermon  on 
"  Usury,"  3  he  endeavours  to  present  a  barrier  to 
one  of  the  most  flagrant  social  evils  of  the  time,  oc- 
casioned by  the  encroachments  of  the  great  mercan- 
tile companies  upon  the  previously  simple  business 
relations  between  man  and  man.  Whatever  was  his 


1  Op.  var.  arg.,  iv.,  84  sqq.  *  Weimar,  ii.,  709,  724,  738. 

3  Erlangen,  20  :  89  sqq. 


148  Martin  Luther  [1519 

opinion  afterward,  at  this  time  he  believed  that 
Matt,  v.,  42,  forbids  absolutely  the  taking  of  in- 
terest. Thus  absorbed  in  the  consideration  of  the 
pressing  questions  of  the  day,  he  was  ever  ready,  as 
his  correspondence  shows,  to  look  after  the  tem- 
poral as  well  as  the  spiritual  interests  of  his  people. 
His  influence  with  the  Elector  and  others  in  high 
station  was  continually  sought,  and  never  refused 
where  the  applicant  was  worthy.  Replying  to  a 
request  of  Spalatin  in  December,  1519,  he  writes: 

"  The  work  is  so  great  and  I  am  so  burdened  !  The 
lectures  on  the  Psalms  demand  the  entire  time  of  a 
man  ;  the  sermons  to  the  congregation  on  the  Gospels 
and  Genesis,  that  of  another  ;  my  various  monastic  duties, 
that  of  a  third  ;  and  the  work  you  have  asked,  that  of  a 
fourth,  to  say  nothing  of  the  many  letters  that  I  must 
write,  and  other  engagements,  as  my  intercourse  with 
friends,  that  steal  entirely  too  much  time." ' 

Among  these  duties,  his  lectures  to  his  students 
and  his  sermons  were  regarded  by  him  as  the  most 
important.  Amidst  labours  prosecuted  with  such 
energy,  the  number  of  students  constantly  grew, 
crowding  to  Wittenberg  from  all  quarters. 

1  De  Wette,  i :  378. 


LUTHER'S  SEAL. 


CHAPTER  VI 

POLITICAL  COMPLICATIONS;  NEW  ALLIES;  THE 
THREE   GREAT   TREATISES   OF    I $20 

WITH  scarcely  less  interest  than  the  profess- 
ors, the  Elector  Frederick  watched  the 
progress  of  his  University,  and  sought  in  every 
way  to  promote  its  advancement.  He  applied 
himself  personally  to  the  work  of  securing  the  best 
teachers,  and  defrayed  the  expense  of  publishing 
what  they  wrote.  Under  the  influence  of  Stau- 
pitz,  having  himself  become  an  earnest  student  of 
the  Bible,  he  had  an  excellent  spiritual  adviser  in 
his  private  secretary,  Spalatin,  Luther's  constant 
correspondent.  The  important  position  occupied 
by  the  Elector  in  the  empire  after  the  death  of 
Maximilian  has  been  already  noticed.  For  over 
five  months  there  was  an  interregnum.  Maximilian 
had  died  without  realising  his  ambition  of  securing 
the  succession  to  his  grandson  Charles.  There  was 
at  once  a  struggle  between  Charles  of  Spain  and 
Francis,  King  of  France,  for  the  vacant  throne. 

149 


150  Martin  Luther  [1483- 

All  the  influence  of  the  Papacy  was  exerted  on  the 
side  of  Francis,  as  the  Pope  feared  the  power  of  the 
House  of  Hapsburg.  Only  one  alternative  was  pre- 
sented, and  that  was  the  election  of  Frederick,  a 
truly  German  prince.  But  this  plan  encountered  an 
insurmountable  obstacle  in  the  absolute  refusal  of 
Frederick  to  allow  the  use  of  his  name.  He  re- 
garded himself  too  old  to  undertake  an  office,  in 
which  the  title  amounted  to  nothing,  unless  sup- 
ported by  power  previously  enjoyed.  On  the  second 
day  of  the  disputation  at  Leipzig,  June  28,  1519, 
the  election  was  held  at  Frankfort-on-the-Main. 
There  had  been  the  most  lavish  use  of  money  to 
determine  the  result.  But  the  title  was  gained,  not 
by  bribery,  but  by  the  influence  of  Frederick,  who 
supported  the  King  of  Spain,  because  of  his  German 
blood,  a  claim  which  Francis  could  not  boast.  Eras- 
mus wrote  (October  17,  1519)  to  the  Bishop  of 
Rochester : 

"  The  Duke  of  Saxony  was  offered  the  empire,  and 
refused  it  the  day  before  Charles's  election,  and  he  but 
for  the  Duke  would  never  have  obtained  it.  He  was 
offered  30,000  florins,  but  would  not  accept  them.  When 
he  was  urged  to  allow  10,000  to  be  distributed  among 
his  retinue,  he  replied  :  '  They  may  take  them,  if  they 
please,  but  if  any  one  touches  so  much  as  a  crown  he 
does  not  remain  in  my  service  to-morrow.'  Next  day 
he  mounted  his  horse  and  departed."  ' 


1  Letters  and  Papers,  Foreign  and  Domestic,  of  the  Reign  of  Henry 
VIII.  Arranged  and  catalogued  by  J.  S.  Brewer,  M.A.,  London, 
1867,  iii.,  Part  I.,  367. 


FREDERICK  THE  WISE,  ELECTOR  OF  SAXONY. 

FROM  A  PAINTING  BY  ALBRECHT  DURF.R,   1524. 


i52o]  New  Allies  151 

When  the  electors  assembled  in  St.  Bartholomew's 
Church,  and  the  formal  vote  was  taken,  Charles  was 
unanimously  chosen.  It  was  a  mortifying  defeat 
for  Pope  Leo  X.,  who  had  favoured  Francis  I. 

A  youth  of  only  nineteen  years,  Charles  found 
himself  the  chosen  ruler  of  an  empire  such  as 
sovereign  had  never  before  governed.  The  Nether- 
lands, Spain,  Austria,  Germany,  Navarre,  Naples, 
the  Sicilies,  and  the  vast  regions  opened  by  the  dis- 
coveries of  Columbus,  as  far  west  as  the  Pacific,  and 
comprising  Mexico,  the  West  Indies,  and  all  South 
America,  were  all  put  under  him.  Never  were  such 
material  wealth,  such  indomitable  enterprise,  or 
such  efficient  resources  at  the  service  of  monarch. 
The  Pope  might  well  dread  the  possibility  of  his  dis- 
pleasure. But  the  heavy  responsibilities  were  ac- 
companied by  the  most  perplexing  problems  ever 
given  one  in  his  station.  The  vaster  the  empire, 
the  more  liable  is  it  to  disintegration,  and  the 
greater  the  necessity  of  ruling  the  subjects  with  such 
tact  and  conciliation  that  they  do  not  feel  that  they 
are  being  governed.  The  vaster  the  empire,  the 
more  numerous  the  points  where  it  must  be  de- 
fended from  external  enemies,  and  the  greater  the 
danger  of  their  coalition.  The  Turks  were  a  con- 
stant menace.  The  King  of  France  was  ready  to 
take  up  arms  against  him.  Henry  VIII.  of  England 
was  prepared  to  take  advantage  of  any  blunder  that 
could  be  turned  to  his  injury  or  loss;  and  his  spirit- 
ual father,  the  Pope,  had  to  be  placed  beneath  the 
ever-watchful  eyes  of  a  trusted  ambassador  at  Rome, 
as  the  archives  at  Simancas  show,  in  order  that  every 


152  Martin  Luther  [i483- 

significant  motion  and  expression  of  feeling  might 
be  promptly  reported,  and  subtle  diplomacy  be  met 
by  diplomacy  equally  subtle.  The  restiveness  of 
the  peasantry,  the  nobles,  the  free  cities,  and  the 
general  revolt  against  the  former  order  of  things, 
had  to  be  treated  with  the  utmost  patience,  and 
with  tender  hands.  It  was  thus  manifest  that,  with 
the  Elector  who  had  decided  his  election  on  the 
side  of  Luther,  Charles,  loyal  Catholic  though  he 
was,  would  have  to  proceed  slowly,  or  a  fire  might 
be  kindled  that  would  be  past  all  control.  Four 
months  intervened  before  his  signing  of  the  capitu- 
lation, whereby  he  took  upon  himself  the  office  to 
which  he  had  been  elected,  and  his  coronation  at 
Aix-la-Chapelle,  October  23,  1519.  The  motto  that 
he  had  inscribed  upon  his  shield,  " Nondum"  "  Not 
yet,"  was  prophetic  of  his  deliberate  and  hesitating 
career.  Thus  a  long  period  was  afforded  in  which 
the  movement  begun  by  Luther  had  opportunity  to 
spread  and  to  develop  its  principles  inwardly  with 
ever-increasing  clearness. 

Allies  came  to  Luther  from  an  unexpected  quar- 
ter. The  interference  of  the  Papacy  in  the  election 
of  the  Emperor,  and  the  shameless  bribery  used  in 
the  interests  of  the  French  King  excited  the  national 
feeling  among  the  knights.  Four  horsemen  are  re- 
ported to  have  entered  a  house  near  Mayence,  where 
one  of  the  papal  legates  was  staying,  and  to  have 
threatened  to  expel  him  from  the  country,  if  the 
political  machinations  on  behalf  of  Francis  did  not 
cease.  Francis  von  Sickingen,  the  most  influential 
of  the  knights,  was  preparing  to  force  the  election 


New  Allies  153 

of  Charles,  if  the  opposite  party  had  any  prospect 
of  success.  To  Luther  they  were  attracted  by  the 
impression  his  protests  were  making  upon  the  papal 
power.  Their  interest  in  him  was  political  and  not 
religious.  In  some  the  knight  and  the  humanist 
were  combined.  The  humanists  have  been  divided 
into  two  classes,  viz. :  those  who  continued  to  be 
students  to  the  end  of  their  lives,  and  who  in  quiet 
seclusion  were  constantly  seeking  to  deepen  their 
knowledge,  representatives  of  a  truly  scientific  spirit, 
of  whom  Melanchthon  and  his  preceptor,  Reuchlin, 
were  types ;  and  those  of  a  more  superficial  nature, 
who  immediately  went  forth  to  apply  their  attain- 
ments to  the  criticism  of  existing  institutions  and 
theories,  ceaseless  agitators,  without  firm  and  de- 
cided convictions,  yielding  nothing  but  negative 
results.  Of  the  latter  class,  Ulrich  von  Hutten  is  a 
brilliant  example.  To  such  men,  Luther,  at  the 
beginning  of  his  career,  was  unattractive.  Despising 
all  monks,  the  earliest  discussions,  in  their  opinion, 
only  indicated  another  fruitless  controversy  among 
ecclesiastics.  But  the  Leipzig  disputation  added  to 
their  regard  for  Melanchthon,  and  inclined  them,  so 
far  as  their  outward  relations  were  concerned,  to 
enlist  in  Luther's  cause.  Crotus,  the  joint  author 
with  Hutten  of  the  sarcastic  Epistol<z  Obscurorum 
Virorum,  had  been  a  fellow-student  of  Luther's  at 
Erfurt,  and  read  with  avidity  his  writings,  as  they 
came  into  his  hands  in  Italy,  and  for  a  time  fell 
beneath  the  spiritual  influence  of  Luther's  words, 
confessing  his  acceptance  of  the  doctrine  of  justifica- 
tion by  faith,  and  renewing  in  cordial  letters  his  ac- 


154  Martin  Luther  [i483- 

quaintance  of  former  days.  Hutten,  of  ancient 
family,  first  a  monk,  afterwards  a  soldier,  a  restless 
attendant  upon  various  universities,  an  accomplished 
and  productive  writer,  crowned  poet-laureate  of 
Germany  by  Maximilian  at  the  Diet  of  Augsburg, 
where  Luther  had  appeared  before  Cajetan,  had  be- 
come an  uncompromising  foe  of  the  Papacy,  and 
with  material  derived  from  his  frequent  visits  to 
Italy  had  directed  his  severe  satire  against  it. 
Singularly  enough,  the  Elector  of  Mayence,  who 
had  been  back  of  Tetzel  in  the  indulgence  traffic, 
regarded  Hutten  with  favour,  possibly  with  some 
expectation  that,  as  the  primate  of  the  German 
Church,  the  weakening  of  the  Roman  influence 
might  not  be  to  his  disadvantage.  With  unpar- 
allelled  effrontery,  Hutten  had  dedicated  to  Leo  X. 
his  republication  of  Laurentius  Valla's  exposure  of 
the  fraud  of  the  Donation  of  Constantine,  a  favourite 
authority  for  the  temporal  claims  of  the  Papacy. 
When  Luther  read  this  in  February,  1520,  he  was 
pleased  that  evidence  was  being  produced  on  his 
side  from  such  a  quarter.  The  plans  were  then  in 
contemplation,  which  afterwards  ripened,  by  which 
Hutten  and  Sickingen  hoped  to  overthrow  the 
bishops,  as  well  as  the  temporal  lords,  and  to  estab- 
lish the  German  Empire  upon  such  a  basis  that  the 
Emperor  would  be  supreme.  In  the  very  beginning 
of  1520  Hutten  wrote,  at  the  request  of  Sickingen, 
to  Melanchthon,  offering  Luther  a  home  at  the 
castle  of  Sickingen,  in  case  he  found  his  surround- 
ings at  Wittenberg  insecure.  While  nothing  but 
encouragement  could  be  drawn  from  such  un- 


ULRICH    VON    HUTTEN. 

FROM    A    CONTEMPORARY    WOOD-CUT 


New  Allies  155 

solicited  help,  nevertheless  Luther  soon  saw  that 
they  were  contending  against  the  Pope  with  differ- 
ent weapons  from  those  which  he  was  employing. 

"  I  would  not,"  he  said,  "  have  the  Gospel  maintained 
by  violence  and  bloodshed.  By  the  Word  the  world  has 
been  overcome  ;  by  the  Word  the  Church  has  been  pre- 
served ;  by  the  Word  it  will  also  be  restored  ;  and  as  Anti- 
christ has  gained  his  power  without  violence,  so  he  will 
fall  without  violence."  ' 

The  biting  sarcasm  of  Hutten  may  be  contrasted 
with  Luther's  letters,  most  humble  and  respectful, 
until  all  hope  of  tolerance  for  the  evangelical  faith 
had  to  be  abandoned.  For  the  vital  questions  in- 
volved in  the  controversy,  the  two  knights  and 
their  followers  had  no  sympathy;  but  would  have 
been  glad  to  have  used  Luther  as  an  instrument  to 
accomplish  their  own  purposes.  Despite  all  this, 
however,  their  writings  were  of  service  in  diffusing 
the  dissatisfaction  that  found  its  end  in  the  hearing 
of  the  Word  as  taught  by  the  Reformers. 

Among  the  humanists  who  contented  themselves 
with  the  more  peaceful  pursuits  of  literary  leisure, 
next  to  Erasmus,  whose  relations  to  Luther  will 
claim  more  ample  treatment  hereafter,  the  most 
prominent  was  Wilibald  Pirkheimer  of  Nuremberg, 
author  of  the  satire  upon  Eck  for  his  part  in  the 
Leipzig  disputation,  and  who,  like  Crotus,  Billica- 
nus,  and  a  number  of  others,  ultimately  turned  away 
from  Luther,  when  the  real  issue  of  the  conflict  was 
understood.  But  from  their  ranks  Luther  gained 

1  De  Wette,  1 :  543. 


156  Martin  Luther  [i483- 

the  important  accession  of  the  two  jurists,  Lawrence 
Spengler  of  Nuremberg,  and  Justus  Jonas,  rector  of 
the  University  of  Erfurt,  afterwards  a  theologian, 
and  his  colleague  at  Wittenberg. 

Everything  begins  now  to  point  towards  a  crisis. 
Eck,  piqued  by  the  attacks  upon  him,  and  inde- 
fatigable when  aroused,  goes,  in  February,  1520,  to 
Rome,  to  prosecute  his  case  before  the  Pope.  He 
is  supported  by  the  decisions  of  the  faculties  of 
Paris,  Louvain,  and  Cologne.  The  Elector,  con- 
scious of  the  peril,  urges  Luther  to  moderate  the 
language  of  his  public  utterances.  Luther  again 
writes  to  the  Archbishop  of  Mayence,  from  whom 
he  receives  a  courteous  reply,  and  to  the  Bishop  of 
Merseburg,  restating  the  real  grounds  of  the  con- 
troversy. 

"  I  call  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  my  future  Judge,  to 
witness  that  I  cannot  teach  otherwise  than  I  have  taught. 
Nor  am  I  conscious  of  having  taught  anything  that  does 
not  concern  Christ  and  the  commandments  of  God. 
What  am  I  to  do  ?  Gain  I  am  not  seeking  :  nor,  were  I 
seeking  it,  could  I  find  it  in  the  hatred  of  so  many  :  much 
less  glory  in  such  infamy.  I  would  be  the  most  insane 
of  all  in  pursuing  these  matters,  because  of  which  I  suffer 
loss  instead  of  gain  ;  confusion  instead  of  glory;  censure, 
violence,  and  death,  instead  of  safety  and  life  :  and  if  I 
err,  after  these  evils  I  must  endure  eternal  fire."  * 

The  Pope  hesitates  about  acting.  The  Spanish 
ambassador  writes  to  Charles  from  Rome,  that,  as  the 
Pope  "  is  exceedingly  afraid  of  Friar  Martin,"  "  who 

1  De  Wette,  i :  398  sqq. 


1520]  New  Allies  157 

is  said  to  be  a  great  scholar,"  it  would  be  a  good 
plan  for  the  Emperor  to  show  Luther  all  possible 
favour,  in  order  thus  to  gain  more  concessions  from 
His  Holiness.  ' 

But  diplomacy  was  unavailing.  The  only  ques- 
tion seemed  to  be,  as  to  which  of  the  two  sides 
should  break  the  temporary  peace.  While  Eck, 
aided  by  Cajetan  and  Aleander,  is  plotting  at  Rome, 
Luther  is  diligently  at  work  on  the  first  formal 
treatise  on  the  subjects  of  controversy,  which  thus 
far  had  found  consideration  only  in  pamphlets, 
chiefly  of  ephemeral  value.  The  Bull  against  Luther 
was  completed  June  15,  1520,  but  before  it  could  be 
circulated,  he  had  anticipated  it  with  his  address: 
' '  To  His  Imperial  Majesty  and  the  Christian  Nobil- 
ity of  the  German  Nation  concerning  the  Reforma- 
tion of  the  Christian  Church."*  This  his  friend 
Lange  termed  ' '  the  trumpet  call  to  battle. "  Viewed 
in  the  light  of  to-day,  it  may  be  entitled:  "  T/te 
Responsibility  and  Duty  of  the  Laity  in  Ecclesias- 
tical Affairs."  '  The  time  for  silence  has  passed, 
and  the  time  of  speaking  has  come,"  is  the  opening 
note.  The  universal  priesthood  of  believers  and 
the  equal  rights  and  dignity  of  the  laity  with  the 
clergy  are  its  great  themes.  The  Papacy,  he  says, 


1  Calendar  of  State  Papers  (Henry  VIII.),  ii.,  305,  London,  1866. 

8Erlangen,  21  :  274  sqq.  We  have  quoted,  with  some  slight  re- 
vision, the  excellent  translation  in  First  Principles  of  the  Reforma- 
tion, which  contains  "The  Ninety-five  Theses,"  "Address  to  the 
Nobility,"  "On  Christian  Liberty,"  and  "  The  Babylonish  Captiv- 
ity," edited  by  Wace  and  Buchheim,  London,  1883  ;  Philadelphia, 
1885. 


158  Martin  Luther  [1483- 

has  sought  defence  behind  three  walls:  I.  The 
supremacy  of  the  spiritual  power.  2.  The  sole  right 
of  the  Pope  to  interpret  Holy  Scripture.  3.  The 
sole  authority  of  the  Pope  to  convene  a  general 
council. 

"  But  there  is  no  difference  among  Christians  save  of 
office  alone.  We  have  one  baptism,  one  Gospel,  one 
faith,  and  are  all  Christians  alike  by  a  higher  conse- 
cration than  pope  or  bishop  can  give.  The  bishop's 
consecration  is  just  as  if  in  the  name  of  the  whole  con- 
gregation, he  took  one  person  out  of  the  community, 
each  member  of  which  has  equal  power,  and  commanded 
him  to  exercise  this  power  for  the  rest ;  in  the  same  way 
as  if  ten  brothers,  co-heirs  as  king's  sons,  were  to  choose 
one  from  among  them  to  rule  over  their  inheritance  : 
they  would  all  of  them  still  remain  kings  and  have  equal 
power  although  one  is  ordered  to  govern.  If  a  little 
company  of  pious  Christian  laymen  were  taken  prisoners 
and  carried  away  to  a  desert,  and  had  not  among  them  a 
priest  consecrated  by  a  bishop,  and  were  there  to  agree 
to  elect  one  of  them,  married  or  unmarried,  and  were  to 
order  him  to  baptise,  to  celebrate  the  Mass,  to  absolve, 
and  to  preach,  this  man  would  be  as  truly  a  priest,  as  if 
all  the  bishops  and  all  the  popes  had  consecrated  him. 
A  priest,  therefore,  should  be  nothing  in  Christendom 
but  an  official :  as  long  as  he  holds  his  office,  he  has 
precedence  over  others  ;  if  he  be  deprived  of  it,  he  is  a 
peasant  and  citizen,  like  the  rest.  A  cobbler,  a  smith,  a 
peasant,  every  man  has  the  office  and  function  of  his 
calling,  and  yet  all  alike  are  consecrated  priests  and 
bishops,  and  every  man  in  his  office  must  be  useful  and 
beneficial  to  the  rest,  that  so  many  kinds  of  work  may  be 
united  in  one  community.  To  say  that  the  temporal 


New  Allies  159 

authority,  being  inferior  to  the  clergy,  dare  not  punish 
them,  is  as  though  one  were  to  say,  the  hand  may  not 
help,  when  the  eye  is  suffering.  Inasmuch  as  the  tem- 
poral power  has  been  ordained  of  God  for  the  pun- 
ishment of  the  bad  and  the  protection  of  the  good,  we 
must  let  it  do  its  duty  throughout  the  whole  Christian 
Body,  without  respect  of  persons,  whether  it  strike 
popes,  bishops,  priests,  or  nuns.  Why  should  your  body, 
life,  goods,  and  honour  be  free,  and  not  mine,  seeing  we 
are  equal  as  Christians  and  have  all  received  one  bap- 
tism, faith,  Spirit,  and  all  things  ?  If  a  priest  is  killed, 
the  country  is  laid  under  an  interdict.  Why  not  also  if 
a  peasant  is  killed  ? " 

The  "  second  wall,"  i.  e.,  the  claim  that  to  the 
Pope  alone  belongs  the  right  to  interpret  the  Holy 
Scriptures,  is  attacked  by  the  same  argument. 

"  They  must  acknowledge  that  there  are  pious  Christ- 
ians among  us,  that  have  the  true  faith,  spirit,  under- 
standing and  mind  of  Christ ;  why,  then,  should  we 
reject  their  word  and  understanding,  and  follow  a  Pope, 
who  has  neither  understanding  nor  Spirit  ?  What,  then, 
becomes  of  St.  Paul's  words  :  '  But  he  that  is  spiritual 
judgeth  all  things,  yet  he  himself  is  judged  of  no  man'? 
(i  Cor.  ii.,  15).  Balaam's  ass  was  wiser  than  the  prophet. 
If  God  spake  by  an  ass  against  a  prophet,  why  should  He 
not  speak  by  a  pious  man  against  the  Pope  ? " 

"  The  third  wall  falls  of  itself,  as  soon  as  the  first  two 
have  fallen  ;  for  if  the  Pope  act  contrary  to  the  Script- 
ures, we  are  bound  to  stand  by  the  Scriptures,  to  punish 
and  constrain  him  according  to  Christ's  commandment, 
Matt,  xviii.,  15-17.  If,  then,  I  am  to  accuse  him  before 
the  Church,  I  must  call  the  Church  together.  When, 


160  Martin  Luther 


therefore,  need  requires,  and  the  Pope  is  a  cause  of 
offence  to  Christendom,  whoever  can  best  do  so,  as  a 
faithful  member  of  the  whole  body,  must  do  what  he  can 
to  procure  a  true  free  council.  This  no  one  can  do  so 
well  as  the  temporal  authorities,  especially  since  they 
are  fellow-Christians,  fellow-priests,  sharing  one  spirit 
and  one  power  in  all  things  ;  and  since  they  should 
exercise  the  office  that  they  have  received  from  God 
without  hindrance  whenever  it  is  necessary  and  useful 
that  it  should  be  exercised.  Would  it  not  be  most  un- 
natural if  a  fire  were  to  break  out  in  a  city,  and  every 
one  were  to  keep  still  and  let  it  burn  on  and  on,  what- 
ever might  be  burnt,  simply  because  they  had  not  the 
mayor's  authority,  or  because  the  fire  perhaps  broke  out 
at  the  mayor's  house  ?  Is  not  every  citizen  bound  in 
this  case  to  rouse  and  call  the  rest  ?  How  much  more 
should  this  be  done  in  the  spiritual  city  of  Christ,  either 
at  the  Pope's  government  or  wherever  it  may  be  !  The 
like  happens  if  an  enemy  attacks  a  town.  The  first  to 
rouse  up  the  rest  earns  glory  and  thanks." 

With  these  principles  fixed,  he  proceeds  to  the 
consideration  of  the  matters  that  should  be  treated 
in  such  a  council,  and  then  offers  twenty-seven 
articles  concerning  the  Reformation  of  the  Christian 
Estate.  From  beginning  to  end  it  is  a  scathing 
denunciation  of  the  Papacy,  characterised  by  many 
eloquent  passages  and  epigrammatic  statements. 
"  God  cares  not  for  much  prayer,  but  for  good 
prayer."  "  It  is  a  greater  sin  to  silence  God's  word 
and  service,  than  if  we  were  to  kill  twenty  popes  at 
once."  "  If  you  try  to  ride  to  heaven  on  the  Pope's 
wax  and  parchment,  your  carriage  will  soon  break 


oon  tta  (upntllrhm 


flantrstoflming: 


TITLE-PAQE  OF  FIRST  EDITION  OF  LUTHER'S  "ADDRESS  TO  THE  GERMAN 
NOBILITY,"  1520. 
(SLIGHTLY  REDUCED.) 


1520]  New  Allies  161 

down,  and  you  will  fall  into  Hell."  "  In  baptism, 
you  joined  a  fraternity,  of  which  Christ,  the  angels, 
the  saints,  and  all  Christians  are  members;  be  true 
to  this,  and  satisfy  it,  and  you  will  have  fraternities 
enough."  '  We  should  overcome  heretics  with 
books,  not  with  fire,  as  the  old  Fathers  did." 
'  There  is  nothing  more  devilishly  mischievous  than 
an  unreformed  university."  "  I  greatly  fear  the 
high  schools  [universities]  are  nothing  but  great 
gates  of  Hell,  unless  they  diligently  study  the  Holy 
Scriptures  and  teach  them  to  the  young  people." 
"It  is  not  the  number  of  books  that  make  the 
learned  man,  nor  much  reading;  but  good  books 
often  read,  however  few,  make  a  man  learned  in  the 
Scriptures  and  pious."  "  If  we  read  nothing  but 
the  Fathers  and  never  get  from  them  into  the 
Scriptures,  it  is  as  if  one  should  be  gazing  at  the 
sign-posts,  and  never  follow  the  road."  '  Without 
doubt  the  greatest  misfortune  to  the  Germans  is 
buying  on  credit.  The  devil  invented  this  system, 
and  the  Pope  has  done  an  injury  to  the  whole  world 
by  sanctioning  it." 

This  treatise,  which,  notwithstanding  its  impas- 
sioned tone  and  caustic,  at  times  even  violent, 
language,  was  most  carefully  and  deliberately  elabo- 
rated, must  be  read,  not  as  the  words  of  an  indi- 
vidual, but  of  the  representative  of  the  German 
people.  Unlike  the  satires  of  the  humanists,  it  was 
not  merely  negative,  but  offered  a  positive  found- 
ation for  a  new  order  of  things.  In  vain  Staupitz 
endeavoured  to  suppress  its  publication.  The  edi- 
tion of  4000  copies  that  left  the  press  in  August  was 


1 62  Martin  Luther  [1483- 

insufficient  for  the  demand,  and  it  was  republished, 
both  at  Leipzig  and  Strassburg,  the  same  year. 

A  treatise,  written  in  Latin,  for  theologians,  fol- 
lowed, two  months  later,  in  The  Prelude  on  the 
Babylonian  Captivity  of  the  Church*  It  is  an  ex- 
hibition of  the  manner  in  which  the  sources  of  the 
Christian  life  had  been  affected  by  the  corruption, 
on  Rome's  part,  of  the  doctrine  of  the  Means  of 
Grace.  A  critical  examination  is  made  of  the  entire 
sacramental  system  of  Rome.  In  the  beginning  he 
thanks  his  enemies  for  the  progress  he  is  making 
under  their  attacks.  He  had  in  mind  only  the 
abuses  of  indulgences  and  the  Papacy  when  he 
began,  but  now  is  ready  to  surrender  both.  By  the 
Babylonian  captivity  of  the  Church,  he  means  the 
perversion  of  the  nature  and  use  of  the  sacraments 
that  the  Church  has  suffered.  Limiting  the  sacra- 
ments to  three,  Baptism,  the  Lord's  Supper,  and 
Repentance,  and  regarding  the  latter  as  not  prop- 
erly a  sacrament,  but  only  a  return  to  Baptism,  he 
enters,  first,  upon  a  long  discussion  concerning  the 
Lord's  Supper.  He  insists  that  the  doctrine  con- 
cerning it  must  be  sought  only  in  the  Words  of  In- 
stitution, as  found  in  the  Gospels  and  i  Corinthians, 
and  declares  that  not  a  syllable  of  the  sixth  chapter 
of  John  refers  to  it,  in  connection  with  which  he 
indicates  the  distinction  between  the  sacramental 
and  the  spiritual  eating  of  Christ's  Body.  Three 
abuses  of  the  Lord's  Supper  he  examines  at  length, 
viz.,  the  withdrawal  of  the  cup  from  the  laity,  the 
doctrine  of  transubstantiation,  and  the  teaching  that 

1  Op.  var.  arg.,  v.,  13  sqq. ;  Weimar,  vi.,  484  sqq. 


New  Allies  163 

it  is  a  sacrifice.  The  Mass,  he  says,  is  the  testament 
of  Christ.  A  testament  is  the  promise  of  one  about 
to  die.  The  promise  of  the  Mass  is  that  of  the  for- 
giveness of  sins,  made  by  God,  and  attested  by  the 
death  of  the  Son  of  God.  If  the  Mass,  then,  be  a 
promise,  we  approach  it  by  no  works  or  merits,  but 
only  by  faith.  Nothing  but  faith,  cleaving  to  this 
promise,  is  necessary.  The  only  preparation  and 
lawful  use  of  the  Lord's  Supper  is  by  faith.  For 
this  reason,  nothing  is  more  important  than  that  the 
communicants  should  hear  and  meditate  upon  the 
words  of  which  the  sacrament  is  the  sign  and 
memorial.  The  receiving  of  a  promise  cannot  be  a 
good  work ;  neither  can  such  reception  be  transferred 
to  another,  nor  can  I  believe  vicariously  or  for 
another.  The  Mass  is  not  a  work  communicable  to 
others,  but  for  the  strengthening  of  the  faith  of 
those  receiving  it.  It  is  not  Baptism  that  justifies, 
but  faith  in  the  word  of  promise  attending  Baptism. 
"  Let  us  learn  to  observe  the  word  rather  than  the 
sign  ;  faith,  rather  than  the  work  or  use  of  the  sign." 
"  In  the  sacrament,  faith  is  so  necessary  that,  even 
without  the  sacrament,  it  can  save."  '  The  sacra- 
ment of  baptism,  as  a  sign,  is  not  momentary,  but 
perpetual;  for,  while  the  use  is  transient,  the  thing 
signified  lasts  even  to  death,  nay,  to  the  resurrection 
at  the  last  day."  No  pope  or  bishop  has  the  power 
of  abrogating  the  liberty  in  Christ,  which  is  made 
the  believer's  in  Baptism.  The  multiplicity  of 
orders,  rites,  works,  etc.,  is  causing  men  to  forget 
what  has  been  given  in  their  baptism.  Monastic 
vows  are  a  denial  of  Baptism.  By  the  prayer  of  the 


164  Martin  Luther  [1483- 

Church,  bringing  children  to  Baptism,  they  are 
given  faith.  Confirmation,  marriage,  ordination, 
and  extreme  unction  are  shown  to  have  no  claim 
to  be  regarded  as  sacraments.  He  ends  the  subject 
with  the  words : 

"  We  distribute  the  two  sacraments,  that  Baptism  may 
be  for  the  beginning  and  the  entire  course  of  the  Christ- 
ian life,  but  the  Bread,  for  its  end  and  for  death  ;  and 
the  Christian  is  exercised  with  both  in  this  body,  until, 
fully  baptised  and  strengthened,  he  pass  from  this  world, 
and  be  born  into  the  new  and  eternal  world,  to  sup  with 
Christ  in  the  kingdom  of  His  Father.  Then,  with  the 
matter  of  both  sacraments  fulfilled,  Baptism  and  Bread 
shall  cease." 

With  this  treatise  should  be  read  the  Sermon  on 
the  Mass,1  published  earlier  in  the  same  year,  where 
Luther  draws  a  very  sharp  distinction,  in  popular 
form,  between  the  hitherto  prevalent  conception  of 
the  sacraments  and  that  to  which  he  has  attained. 
It  is  an  earnest  plea  for  simplicity  in  the  external 
regulations  of  public  worship,  upon  the  ground, 
"  the  less  law,  the  better  justice;  the  fewer  com- 
mandments, the  more  good  works."  The  chief 
thing  in  worship  is  declared  to  be  the  word  of  God, 
and  man's  chief  part  is  not  to  bring  something  to 
God,  but  to  receive  what  God  brings  him.  The 
chief  thing  in  the  sacrament  is  the  Word  of  God ; 
man's  part  is  to  receive  by  faith  the  promise  therein 
offered. 

In  striking  contrast  with  the  two  great  polemical 

1  Erlangen,  27  :  139  sqq.j  Weimar,  vi.,  349  sqq. 


New  Allies  165 

treatises  of  this  year,  was  an  irenic  of  such  nature 
that  in  it  the  trace  of  controversy  is  scarcely  per- 
ceptible. The  Freedom  of  a  Christian  Man  '  has  been 
called  the  pearl  of  his  writings, 

"  perhaps  the  most  beautiful  of  Luther's  writings,  more 
the  result  of  religious  contemplation  than  of  theological 
work,  a  writing  full  of  deep  mystical  thoughts,  which, 
notwithstanding  its  peculiar  reverence  for  the  Word  of 
God,  and  its  constant  reference  to  the  real  relations  of 
life,  ever  recurs  to  the  world  of  thought  of  the  mystic."  * 

In  it,  the  Christian  experience  of  Luther  finds  its 
expression,  apart  from  and  beneath  the  external 
conflicts  that  occupied  him,  like  the  deep  calm 
underneath  the  most  tumultuous  roar  of  the  ocean. 
"  It  is  a  small  book,"  wrote  its  author,  "  and  yet, 
if  its  sense  be  understood,  it  comprises  the  sum  of 
the  Christian  life."  It  belonged  to  the  last  effort 
to  conciliate  Leo,  even  after  the  papal  Bull  had  been 
issued,  and  was  written  at  the  request  of  Miltitz.  A 
paradox,  which  Luther  finds  in  I  Cor.  ix.,  19;  Rom. 
xiii.,  8,  stands  at  its  head,  viz. :  "  A  Christian  is  a 
most  free  lord  over  all  things,  and  subject  to  no 
one  "  ;  and  "A  Christian  is  a  ministering  servant  of 
all,  and  subject  to  every  one."  Free  through  faith, 
he  is  servant  of  all  through  love.  Every  Christian 
has  two  natures,  spiritual  and  bodily.  According 
to  the  former,  he  is  an  inner,  new  man ;  according 
to  the  latter,  a  carnal,  external,  old  man.  It  is  the 
former  that  is  free.  No  outward  thing  has  the  ability 


1  Weimar,  vii.,  12  sqq. 

*  Kolde.  Martin  Luther,  i.,  274,  Gotha,  1884. 


1  66  Martin  Luther 


to  bring  Christian  righteousness  or  freedom,  or,  on 
the  other  hand,  unrighteousness  or  bondage.  What 
influence  can  health  and  freedom  of  body,  eating 
and  drinking,  or  good  works  have  upon  the  inner 
man  ?  How  can  imprisonment,  hunger,  and  thirst 
do  him  injury  ?  These  things  do  not  reach  the 
soul.  The  soul  needs  none  of  these  things  for  a 
Christian  life.  It  is  not  injured  when  the  body 
wears  unconsecrated  clothing,  or  when  it  prays  at 
unconsecrated  places.  The  soul  can  dispense  with 
everything  except  the  Word  of  God  ;  and  without 
the  Word  of  God,  it  can  find  help  from  no  other 
source.  With  the  Word,  it  has  life,  truth,  peace, 
righteousness,  salvation,  joy,  freedom,  wisdom, 
glory,  and  every  good  in  surpassing  measure.  But 
what  is  that  Word,  and  how  is  it  to  be  used  ?  That 
Word  is  the  Gospel  concerning  the  Son  of  God  ;  and 
this  can  be  received  only  by  faith.  Since,  then,  it 
is  only  faith  that  can  govern  the  inner  man,  the 
inner  man  can  be  justified  and  saved  by  no  external 
work  or  occupation.  He  who  believes  in  Christ  has 
the  fulfilment  of  the  law,  has  all  that  the  law  de- 
mands. United  with  Christ,  as  a  bride  to  her  bride- 
groom, the  soul  gives  Christ  all  her  sin,  and  receives 
from  Him,  through  faith,  all  His  righteousness,  His 
eternal  priesthood,  and  His  glorious  kingdom.  A 
spiritual  king,  there  is  nothing  so  good  or  so  high, 
that  it  must  not  serve  me  for  good,  if  I  believe.  A 
spiritual  priest,  I  appear  before  God,  and  pray  for 
others,  and  have  power  with  God,  who  does  as  the 
Christian  in  faith  asks. 

But,  although  justified,  he  remains  in  this  life,  a 


i52o]  New  Allies  167 

man  among  other  men.  In  constant  struggle  against 
his  own  flesh  and  desires,  he  must  serve  and  work; 
by  watching,  fasting,  and  prayer,  he  must  rule  his 
body,  in  order  ever  to  become  more  and  more  con- 
formed to  faith  and  the  inner  man.  He  lives,  too, 
not  for  himself  alone,  but  also  for  all  men  upon  earth ; 
or  rather,  he  lives  alone  for  others, and  not  for  himself. 
Thus,  the  Christian  is  free  from  works,  since  he  does 
not  himself  need  them,  as,  by  his  innermost  union 
with  his  Saviour  by  faith,  he  has  all  that  his  soul 
requires ;  but  he  cannot  do  otherwise  than  serve  his 
neighbour  out  of  pure  love.  '  Thus  we  conclude, 
a  Christian  lives,  not  in  himself,  but  in  Christ  and 
his  neighbour;  in  Christ,  through  faith;  in  his 
neighbour,  through  love ;  or  he  is  not  a  Christian. 
Through  faith,  he  reaches  upward  to  God ;  through 
love,  downward  to  his  neighbour." 

"  These  three  treatises  together,"  says  Koestlin,  "  are 
the  chief  reformatory  writings  of  Luther.  According  to 
their  contents,  they  have  a  most  important  relation  to 
each  other.  In  the  first,  Luther  calls  Christendom,  in 
general,  to  the  battle  against  the  outward  abuses  of  the 
Pope  and  of  the  estate  that  boasted  of  being  the  only  one 
possessing  a  spiritual  and  priestly  character.  In  the 
second,  he  exposes  and  breaks  the  spiritual  bond,  where- 
by this  estate,  through  its  means  of  grace,  kept  souls  in 
bondage.  In  the  third,  he  reaches  the  most  profound 
and  important  question  concerning  the  relation  of  the 
Christian  soul  to  its  God  and  Redeemer,  and  the  way 
and  nature  of  salvation." ' 


1  Luther's  Leben,  i.,  335. 


LUTHER  AS  SAMSON.       A  LEIPZIG  MEDAL  OF  1617. 


CHAPTER   VII 

THE  BULL 

A  LTHOUGH  announced  long  before  by  rumour, 
J\  the  Bull  did  not  reach  Wittenberg  until  the  first 
week  in  October.1  Eck  had  gained,  as  he  thought, 
a  triumph,  not  only  by  overcoming  all  opposition  at 
Rome,  but  also  in  being  himself  deputed,  as  nuncio, 
to  publish  it  in  Germany.  After  invoking  God,  in 
the  words  of  Ps.  Ixxiv.,  22;  Ixxx.,  13,  14,  summon- 
ing the  aid  of  SS.  Peter  and  Paul,  and  all  the  saints, 
for  the  distressed  Church,  suffering  from  the  assaults 
of  "  a  new  Porphyry,"  the  Bull  condemns  forty-two 
errors  said  to  be  taken  from  the  writings  of  Luther. 
They  consist  chiefly  of  sentences  torn  from  their 
connection,  most  of  which  had  already  served  Eck 
a  good  purpose  at  Leipzig,  or  had  been  uttered  by 
Luther  in  that  disputation.  Among  the  errors  for 
which  Luther  was  summoned  to  recant,  the  thirty- 

1  For  "  Bull,"  see  original  text  in  Op.  var.  arg.,  iv.,  259  sqq.  ;  also 
in  SchafFs  Hist.  Christ.  Church,  vii.,  233  sqq.  English  translation 
by  the  author  in  the  Appendix  to  this  volume. 

169 


The  Bull  169 

third  reads:  "  To  burn  heretics  is  contrary  to  the 
will  of  the  Spirit."1  All  persons,  universities,  and 
States  are  prohibited  from  affirming,  defending, 
preaching,  or,  in  any  way,  publicly  or  privately, 
expressly  or  silently,  favouring  them.  Wherever 
found,  the  writings  of  Luther  are  to  be  publicly 
burned.  Sixty  days  are  given  Luther,  within  which 
to  recant,  and  he  is  summoned  to  Rome,  with  the 
assurance  of  a  safe-conduct.  The  penalty  of  refusal 
is  excommunication  ;  all  persons  or  States  harbouring 
or  holding  intercourse  with  him,  after  such  excom- 
munication, are  to  be  placed  under  the  ban.  All  patri- 
archs, archbishops,  bishops,  prelates  of  patriarchal, 
metropolitan,  and  other  cathedrals,  and  other  ecclesi- 
astics, especially  in  Germany,  are  required  to  make 
solemn  proclamation  of  the  Bull  in  all  their  churches, 
on  Sundays  and  other  festivals.  It  is  also  to  be 
nailed  to  the  doors  of  the  cathedrals  of  Branden- 
burg, Meissen,  and  Merseburg.  Eck  included  in 
its  provisions,  by  special  authority,  Carlstadt,  Pirk- 
heimer,  Spengler,  and  other  sympathisers  of  Luther. 

If  the  papal  court  showed  great  diplomatic  wis- 
dom in  the  selection  of  the  ambassadors  who  were 
to  negotiate  with  the  Emperor  and  Electors,  concern- 
ing the  execution  of  the  Bull,  it  manifested  astonish- 
ing ignorance  of  the  condition  of  things  in  Germany, 
in  commissioning  Eck  as  the  agent  to  proclaim  it  to 
the  German  people.  Instead  of  striking  terror 
wherever  read,  it  excited  only  contempt  and  indig- 
nation. At  Leipzig,  where  a  year  before  he  had 
gloried  over  what  he  regarded  a  decided  victory,  he 

1  From  Luther's  Address  to  the  Nobility,  see  above,  p.  161. 


1 70  Martin  Luther  [i483- 

was  mobbed  by  the  Leipzig  students,  reinforced  by 
many  from  Wittenberg.  The  bull  was  torn  to 
pieces.  Covered  with  mud,  Eck  found  refuge  in  a 
monastery,  whence  he  hurried,  under  cover  of  night, 
from  the  city.  At  Erfurt  the  students  were  sup- 
ported by  the  Faculty,  and,  instead  of  being  posted 
up,  the  document  was  thrown  into  the  water,  with 
the  words:  "It  is  a  bulla  [bubble];  let  it  float." 
At  Wittenberg  it  was  suppressed. 

Meanwhile  Miltitz,  who  saw  the  blunder,  had  an 
interview  with  Luther  and  Melanchthon,  October 
1 2th,  at  Lichtenberg,  and,  upon  the  representation 
that  the  bull  was  solely  the  reflection  of  Eck's  in- 
fluence at  Rome,  and  that  Leo  was  still  open  to 
conviction,  secured  the  promise  that  Luther  would 
address  another  letter  to  the  Pope,  together  with 
an  irenical  treatise,  stating  the  principles  involved 
in  his  protest,  with  the  understanding  that  it  was  to 
be  dated  before  the  reception  of  the  bull.  From 
this  Luther  could  not  have  hoped  for  any  result. 
The  breach  had  already  occurred  and  was  irrepara- 
ble. But,  in  deference  to  the  Elector's  desires,  he 
consented  to  treat  the  matter  as  though  the  Pope 
had  been  made  the  innocent  victim  of  Eck.  The 
treatise,  prepared  within  twelve  days,  we  have  in 
The  Freedom  of  a  Christian  Man,  a  summary  of 
which  has  been  given.  The  letter,1  while  entirely 
candid  in  its  professions  that  he  is  without  any  per- 
sonal feeling  against  Leo,  and  that  he  would  gladly 
honour  him,  if  false  friends  would  not  claim  for  the 
Pope  what  belongs  only  to  God,  is,  even  to  the  an- 

1  De  Wette,  i  :  497. 


The  Bull  171 

ticipation  of  the  date,  one  of  the  most  severe  speci- 
mens of  satire  that  can  be  found.  He  addresses 
the  Pope  as  a  ' '  Daniel  among  lions, "  a  "  lamb  in  the 
midst  of  wolves, "  a  ' '  Pope  worthy  of  a  better  age, ' ' 
and  declares  with  what  zeal  he  has  maintained  his 
cause  against  such  a  man  as  Sylvester  Prierias,  who 
has  done  the  Pope  great  wrong  by  his  misrepre- 
sentations. He  apologises  for  the  severe  language 
he  has  found  it  necessary  to  use,  by  the  example  of 
Christ,  who  calls  the  Pharisees  "  a  generation  of 
vipers,"  and  "  children  of  the  devil,"  and  of  Paul, 
who  called  one  opponent  "  a  son  of  perdition,"  and 
others,  "  dogs."  '  What  use  has  salt,  if  it  do  not 
bite  ?  What,  the  edge  of  a  sword,  if  it  do  not  cut  ?  " 
Under  the  whole  heaven,  there  is  nothing  more 
corrupt  than  the  Roman  court.  For  it  incomparably 
surpasses  the  godlessness  of  the  Turks.  What  once 
was  truly  a  gate  of  Heaven,  has  now  become  a  gaping 
mouth  of  Hell." 

"  Believe  not,  O  Leo,  the  siren  voices  of  those  who 
would  persuade  you  that  you  are  more  than  a  mere 
man,  and  really,  in  part,  God,  to  command  and  exact 
everything.  In  this  way,  you  will  not  prevail.  You 
are  the  servant  of  servants,  and,  above  all  men,  in  a 
most  miserable  and  perilous  place.  Allow  not  them  to 
deceive  you,  who  pretend  that  you  are  the  Lord  of  the 
world,  and  that,  without  you,  no  one  can  be  a  Christian, 
and  who  prate  about  your  ability  to  do  anything  in 
Heaven,  Hell,  or  purgatory.  They  are  your  enemies,  and 
are  seeking  to  destroy  your  soul.  They  err  who  elevate 
you  above  the  Council,  and  the  whole  Church  ;  they  err 
who  ascribe  to  you  alone  the  right  to  interpret  Scripture. 


Martin  Luther  [i483- 

They  are  only  seeking,  under  your  name,  to  establish 
their  impious  schemes  in  the  Church,  as,  alas  !  Satan 
has  already  accomplished  much  through  them,  in  your 
predecessors." 

Upon  the  same  assumption,  he  had  written  in 
September,  a  brochure  on  The  New  Bull  and  Lies  of 
Eck*  followed,  November  i/th,  by  a  formal  Appeal 
to  a  General  Council?  and,  about  the  same  time, 
another  pamphlet,  Against  the  Execrable  Bull  of 
Antichrist*  In  the  last  of  these,  he  says  that  he 
will  treat  the  bull  as  though  it  were  not  the  work  of 
the  Pope,  for  whoever  wrote  it  must  be  Antichrist. 
A  few  sentences  will  show  its  spirit : 

"  Where  art  thou,most  excellent  Emperor  Charles?  and, 
where  are  you,  ye  Christian  kings  and  princes  ?  Can  you, 
who  have  made  oath  to  Christ  in  baptism,  endure  these 
tartarean  declarations  of  Antichrist  ?  Where  are  you, 
ye  bishops,  ye  doctors,  ye  confessors  of  Christ's  name? 
In  the  presence  of  these  horrible  portents  of  the  Papists, 
can  you  keep  silence  ?  .  .  .  Thee,  Leo  X.,  and  you, 
ye  cardinals  of  Rome,  I  address,  and  to  your  face  I  freely 
say  :  If  this  bull  has  gone  forth  in  your  name,  and  with 
your  knowledge,  and  you  acknowledge  it,  I  will  use  my 
authority,  by  which,  in  baptism,  by  the  mercy  of  God, 
I  became  a  son  of  God,  and  co-heir  with  Christ,  and 
was  placed  upon  a  firm  rock,  which  dreads  neither  the 
gates  of  hell,  nor  heaven,  nor  earth.  I  exhort  and  ad- 
monish you  in  the  Lord,  to  repent,  and  to  make  an  end 
to  these  diabolical  blasphemies,  and  that  too,  speedily. 

1  Weimar,  vi.,  576. 

*  16.,  viii.,  74  sqq.,  in  German  ;  83  sqq. 

*I6.,  595  sqq. 


The  Bull  173 

Unless  this  be  done,  know  that  I,  with  all  who  worship 
Christ,  will  regard  your  See  possessed  of  Satan,  and  the 
accursed  abode  of  Antichrist,  whom  we  not  only  cannot 
obey,  but  detest  and  execrate,  as  the  chief  enemy  of 
Christ.  For  this  declaration,  we  are  ready  not  only  to  bear 
with  joy  your  foolish  censures,  but  even  not  to  ask  you 
to  absolve  us  or  account  us  of  your  number, — aye,  we 
offer  ourselves  for  death,  that  you  may  satisfy  your 
bloody  tyranny.  But,  if  the  Spirit  of  Christ  and  the 
power  of  our  faith  avail,  should  you  persevere  in  your 
fury  after  this  has  been  written,  we  condemn  you  and, 
together  with  the  bull  and  all  the  decretals,  deliver  you 
to  Satan,  for  the  destruction  of  your  flesh,  that  your 
spirit  may  be  delivered  in  the  day  of  the  Lord.  In  the 
name  of  Jesus  Christ,  our  Lord,  whom  you  persecute. 
Amen." 

Contemporaneously  with  this  appeared  The  Found- 
ation and  Reason  of  all  the  Articles,  Lately  Con- 
demned by  the  Roman  Bull,1  in  which  each  article  of 
the  forty-one  is  examined,  and  answer  given  as  to 
the  charge  of  its  heretical  character.  The  surprise 
and  excitement  occasioned  by  one  treatise  are  not 
over  before  another  immediately  takes  its  place. 
The  blows  upon  the  Papacy  are  not  only  sharp  and 
heavy,  but  they  are  incessant.  No  time  is  given 
for  an  answer.  When  it  is  noted  that  The  Ad- 
dress to  the  German  Nobility,  The  Babylonian  Cap- 
tivity, The  Freedom  of  a  Christian  Man,  the  letter  to 
the  Pope,  The  Appeal  to  a  General  Council,  The  Bull 
against  the  Execrable  Bull  of  Antichrist,  and  The 

1  Op.  var.  arg.,  v.,  154  sqq.  ;  Erlangen,  24:  52  sqq.  ;  Weimar, 
viii.,  91  sqq. 


174  Martin  Luther  [1483- 

Reason  for  the  Condemned  Articles,  all  appeared 
within  five  months,  and  when  the  length  and 
thoroughness  of  some  of  these  books  is  considered, 
we  are  astonished  at  Luther's  literary  productivity, 
and  can  see  how  utterly  mistaken  the  adherents  of 
the  Papacy  were  in  their  plans  to  silence  him.  Let- 
ters of  encouragement  from  all  directions  and  all 
classes  assured  him  how  deep  was  the  impression 
he  was  making. 

At  Louvain  and  Cologne,  the  demand  of  the  bull 
for  the  public  burning  of  Luther's  works  had  been 
complied  with.  Aimed  at  creating  a  moral  effect, 
Luther  resolved  upon  retaliating  in  case  such  acts 
were  repeated.  He  was  awaiting  a  demonstration 
of  this  kind  at  Leipzig,  with  the  intention  of  im- 
mediately thereafter  committing  the  Pope's  bull  to 
the  flames.  But  at  Leipzig  Luther  had  gained  too 
strong  a  hold.  When  the  news  came  that  at  May- 
ence  the  example  set  at  Louvain  and  Cologne  had 
been  followed,  he  proceeded  to  action.  Early  on 
the  morning  of  Monday,  December  10,  1520,  the 
following  notice  was  posted  on  the  bulletin  board 
of  the  University : 

"  All  friends  of  evangelical  truth  are  invited 
to  assemble  about  nine  o'clock  at  the  Church 
of  the  Holy  Cross  beyond  the  city  wall.  There, 
according  to  ancient,  apostolical  usage,  the 
godless  books  of  the  Papal  constitutions  and 
the  Scholastic  Theology  will  be  burned,  inas- 


The  Bull  175 

much  as  the  presumption  of  the  enemies  of 
the  Gospel  has  advanced  to  such  a  degree  that 
they  have  cast  the  godly,  evangelical  books  of 
Luther  into  the  fire.  Let  all  earnest  students, 
therefore,  appear  at  the  spectacle  ;  for  it  is  now 
the  time  when  Antichrist  must  be  exposed." 

With  the  exception  of  Adrian,  the  Professor  of 
Hebrew,  all  Luther's  colleagues  were  on  his  side. 
The  terrors  of  the  bull  had  driven  from  Witten- 
berg about  one  hundred  and  fifty  students,  mostly 
by  order  of  those  upon  whom  they  were  depend- 
ent. But  their  places  had  been  supplied  by  others 
attracted  by  the  wide  publication  of  the  books 
of  Wittenberg's  leading  professor.  Spalatin,  sent 
by  the  Elector  to  make  an  inquiry,  had  found  four 
hundred  students  in  attendance  upon  the  lectures 
of  Luther,  and  from  five  to  six  hundred  upon  those 
of  Melanchthon.  All  had  been  for  months  in  a 
state  of  expectancy.  When  the  signal  was  thus 
given,  all  lectures  were  abandoned,  and  out  Col- 
lege Street,  through  the  Elster  gate,  they  thronged 
to  the  appointed  place.  A  hospital,  near  the  church 
mentioned,  had  on  its  grounds  a  pest-house,  which 
the  frequent  visitations  of  the  plague  had  rendered 
necessary,  and  not  far  off  a  spot  where  infected 
clothing  was  burned.  On  a  pyre  there  built  Luther 
placed  the  books  of  canonical  law,  which  had  be- 
come particularly  offensive  to  him,  since  support  was 
constantly  sought  from  them  for  the  claims  of  the 


176  Martin  Luther  [1483- 

Papacy,  in  contradiction  of  the  Scripture  passages 
he  had  cited  against  them.  A  Master  of  Arts  ap- 
plied the  flame,  and,  as  it  grew,  Luther  hurled  into 
it  the  bull,  with  the  words:  "  Because  thou  dost 
trouble  the  Holy  One  of  the  Lord  [Mark  i.,  24],  may 
eternal  fire  consume  thee!  " 

Before  the  canonical  books  were  all  consumed,  he 
withdrew.  With  all  his  courage,  he  confesses  that 
he  went  forth  that  morning  trembling  and  praying, 
but  returned  with  greater  joy  than  over  any  previous 
deed  of  his  life.1  The  students  lingered  at  the 
place,  keeping  up  the  fire,  and  singing  the  Te  Deum. 
Their  youthful  ardour  found  expression  in  pro- 
ceedings that  Luther  thought  it  necessary  the  next 
day,  at  his  lectures,  to  censure.  They  converted 
the  burning  into  a  matter  of  sport,  singing  funeral 
hymns  over  the  expiring  embers,  and  then,  return- 
ing to  Wittenberg,  procured  a  wagon,  and  passed 
through  the  streets  in  procession,  gathering  large 
quantities  of  the  books  of  Luther's  adversaries,  and 
with  them  caused  the  flames  at  the  pest-house  to 
be  started  anew.  With  Luther,  however,  the  act 
had  been  no  mere  sport.  He  meant  what  he  said 
when  he  announced  it  as  a  religious  act.  It  was  in- 
tended to  declare  to  his  adversaries,  that  his  books 
must  be  answered  by  argument ;  and  that  if,  instead 
of  refuting,  they  chose  to  burn  them,  that  plan 
was  just  as  admissible  on  his  side.  The  last  bridge 
was  broken.  The  next  day  he  publicly  declared: 
"  If,  with  your  whole  heart,  you  do  not  separate 
from  the  dominion  of  the  Pope,  you  cannot  be 

1  Letter  to  Staupitz,  De  Wette,  I  :  542. 


The  Bull  177 

saved.  .  .  .  In  this  wicked  world,  I  would 
rather  endure  all  perils  than,  by  silence,  burden  my 
conscience  with  the  account  I  must  render  to  God. ' ' ' 
With  characteristic  promptness,  in  a  pamphlet  that 
appeared  the  same  month,  he  justifies  his  course  in 
burning  the  canonical  law,  by  the  citation  of  thirty 
passages,  in  which  its  teaching  is  directly  contradic- 
tory to  Holy  Scripture.  Not  only  was  he  at  this  time 
aware  of  his  probable  appearance  before  the  Emperor 
to  answer  for  his  course,  but  his  heart  was  saddened 
by  the  defection,  under  the  threats  made  by  Eck,  of 
Adelmann  of  Augsburg,  and  the  two  Nurembergers, 
Pirkheimer  and  Spengler,  and  the  wavering  of  Stau- 
pitz,  Luther's  old  friend  and  preceptor,  who,  feeling 
himself  unequal  to  the  conflict,  had  sought  to  escape 
it  by  resigning  his  position  as  Vicar-General  of  the 
Augustines,  and  had  retired  to  Saltzburg,  where  he 
was  preacher  to  the  archbishop,  and  where  he  hoped 
to  end  his  days  in  peace.  But  there  he  was  sum- 
moned before  a  notary  and  witnesses  and  asked  to 
condemn  the  articles  of  Luther  rejected  in  the  bull. 
Writing  to  his  successor,  Link,  Staupitz  said :  "  Mar- 
tin has  begun  a  dangerous  enterprise,  and  is  carrying 
it  on  with  a  high  spirit,  enlightened  of  God ;  but  I 
falter,  and  have  need  of  milk."  Luther  attempted 
to  comfort  and  strengthen  him,  as  Staupitz  had  so 
often  comforted  Luther.  The  old  man  finally  sought 
to  evade  the  issue  by  the  general  declaration,  that 
he  submitted  himself  to  the  Pope,  as  his  judge.  In 
February,  Luther  addresses  him  with  decision,  com- 
bined with  tenderness: 


1  Op.  var.  arg.,  v.,  253  sqq. 


1 78  Martin  Luther  [i520 

"  If  Christ  loves  you  He  will  compel  you  to  recall  that 
declaration,  since  in  the  bull  everything  is  condemned 
that  you  have  heretofore  taught  concerning  the  mercy 
of  God.  This  is  no  time  for  fear,  but  for  raising  the 
alarm,  when  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  is  condemned,  dis- 
honoured, and  blasphemed.  I  exhort  you,  therefore, 
to  pride  with  as  much  urgency  as  you  exhort  me  to 
humility  ;  for  you  have  too  much  humility,  as  I  have  too 
much  pride.  But  it  is  a  serious  matter.  We  see  Christ 
suffering.  If,  heretofore,  we  had  to  keep  silent  and  be 
humbled,  now,  when  throughout  the  whole  world  our 
Saviour  is  made  sport  of,  shall  we,  I  ask,  not  contend  for 
Him  ?  Shall  we  not,  for  His  sake,  offer  our  necks  ?  My 
Father,  the  danger  is  greater  than  many  believe.  Here 
the  Gospel  begins  to  have  its  application  :  '  Whosoever 
shall  confess  Me  before  men,  him  will  I  confess  also  be- 
fore My  Father  which  is  in  heaven  ;  but  whosoever  shall 
deny  Me  before  men,  him  will  I  also  deny  before  My 
Father  which  is  in  heaven.'  "  ' 

How  deeply  Luther  felt  this  alienation  of  his 
spiritual  father,  may  be  judged  from  an  incidental 
remark  in  a  letter  of  October  3,  1519:  "  Last  night 
I  had  a  dream  concerning  you.  I  thought  that  you 
were  leaving  me,  and  that  I  was  most  bitterly  weep- 
ing; but  I  was  pacified  when  you  said  that  you 
would  return."  *  A  book,  published  by  Staupitz,  in 
1525,  on  The  True  Christian  Faith,  shows  how  far 
apart,  since  their  external  separation,  the  two  friends 
had  drifted. 


1  De  Wette,  1 :  536  sqq. 
*  /*.,  243. 


UKB4 

UTHU 

ADIT. 
ANMOJ5H. 


MEDAL  COMMEMORATING  LUTHER  AT  WORMS. 

CHAPTER  VIII 

THE  DIET  OF  WORMS 

NEVER  was  political  diplomacy  more  active  than 
in  the  negotiations  for  the  execution  of  the 
bull.  In  the  autumn  of  1520,  the  young  Emperor 
— the  object  of  the  conflicting  hopes  of  all  the  par- 
ticipants in  the  great  struggle — had  come  to  Ger- 
many, to  be  crowned  at  the  grave  of  Charlemagne 
at  Aix-la-Chapelle,  and  to  hold  his  first  Imperial 
diet.  The  German  knights,  under  Hutten  and 
Sickingen,  were  chafing  to  carry  out  their  visionary 
projects,  in  support  of  his  authority  as  an  independ- 
ent German  Emperor,  and  were  sanguine  as  to  the 
early  realisation  of  their  extravagant  expectations. 
They  took  pains  to  impress  him  with  the  importance 
and  feasibility  of  their  schemes,  and  the  extent  of 
the  revolt  against  the  papal  authority.  The  Papacy, 
on  the  other  hand,  had  selected  as  its  representatives 
two  accomplished  diplomats,  both  Italians,  Carrac- 
cioli  and  Aleander,  the  latter  librarian  of  the  Vatican 
Library,  and  a  humanist,  who  had  for  ten  years 

179 


i8o  Martin  Luther  [1483- 

been  Professor  of  Greek  in  Paris.  They  had  hast- 
ened to  meet  Charles  in  the  Netherlands.  Of  the 
details  of  their  negotiations  the  Emperor  had  been 
well  informed  for  months  by  his  watchful  ambassa- 
dor at  Rome.  His  course,  with  respect  to  Luther, 
was  to  be  decided  by  reasons  of  State  policy.  As 
to  the  justice  of  the  condemnation,  the  sentence  of 
the  Pope  was  sufficient  for  him,  a  loyal  Catholic  in 
everything  pertaining  to  his  personal  convictions 
and  private  religious  life.  The  game  of  statecraft 
between  Pope  and  Emperor  was  one  in  which  the 
former  demanded  the  execution  of  the  bull,  and  the 
latter  sought  to  exact  the  utmost  of  favours  in  his 
projects  against  France,  and  the  revocation  of  cer- 
tain restrictions  which  the  Pope  had  recently  placed 
upon  the  Inquisition  in  Aragon.  Both  were  ham- 
pered, the  one  by  the  apprehension,  in  this  crisis,  of 
alienating  King  Francis  from  the  See  of  Rome,  and 
the  other  by  his  obligations  to  the  Elector  of  Sax- 
ony, and  the  threats  of  revolt  that  came  from  so 
many  parts  of  Germany. 

Aleander  approached  the  Elector;  but  in  his  re- 
ception at  Cologne  was  met  with  such  chilling  delays 
and  exacting  formalities,  that  the  purpose  of  Fred- 
erick was  manifest.  Luther  was  not,  in  his  judg- 
ment, to  be  regarded  as  a  condemned  man  until  he 
had  been  tried  by  regular  process.  Thus  far  Fred- 
erick claimed  that  Luther  had  not  been  refuted. 
Appealing  to  Erasmus  for  advice,  he  was  only 
strengthened  in  his  policy;  for,  in  answer  to  the 
question,  as  to  whether  Luther  had  erred,  Erasmus 
answered:  "Yes,  in  two  things;  he  has  attacked 


The  Diet  of  Worms  181 


the  Pope  in  his  crown,  and  the  monks  in  their 
bellies."  The  Elector  then  presented  the  grievance 
that,  in  his  absence  and  without  his  consent,  Eck 
had  published  the  bull  in  his  territory.  The  next 
resort  of  Aleander  was  to  procure  from  the  Em- 
peror an  edict  for  the  burning  of  Luther's  books  in 
Saxony,  as  such  edict  had  been  given  for  the  Neth- 
erlands, in  order,  by  this  means,  to  gain  the  Imperial 
sanction  for  the  execution  of  the  bull.  But  in  this 
he  was  foiled  by  the  opinion  of  Charles's  legal  coun- 
sellors, that  the  condemnation  of  a  German  without 
a  hearing  would  be  a  violation  of  the  capitulation, 
to  which  he  had  just  made  oath  at  his  coronation. 
Frederick  was  accordingly  instructed  to  bring 
Luther  with  him  to  the  diet  to  be  held  in  Worms. 
It  seemed  as  though  this  were  not  to  be  accom- 
plished, when,  late  in  December,  both  parties  united 
in  their  opposition  to  the  project;  Frederick  in 
protest  against  the  insult  offered  him  by  the  burn- 
ing of  Luther's  works  at  Cologne  and  Mayence; 
and  Charles,  under  the  pressure  of  Aleander's  plea 
of  the  offence  that  would  be  given  the  Papacy  if 
Luther  —  a  man  condemned  by  the  Pope  —  were  to 
be  heard  before  he  had  recanted.  When  the  sum- 
mons of  the  Emperor  was  known  to  have  been  re- 
called, a  storm  of  excitement  from  the  knights  and 
the  people  broke  out,  that  ultimately  procured  a 
second,  and  this  time  a  formal  summons,  directly  ad- 
dressed to  Luther,  after  the  council  of  electors  had 
requested  it  ;  some  hoping  thus  to  find  the  shortest 
way  to  the  execution  of  the  bull.  The  summons 
was  in  itself  a  triumph.  Aleander  had  used  all  his 


1 82  Martin  Luther  [1483- 

arts  against  it.  The  manner  in  which  he  was  sum- 
moned was  also  a  triumph  for  Luther.  Never  had 
heretic  condemned  by  the  Pope  been  addressed  in 
such  respectful  and  friendly  terms  by  a  Catholic 
sovereign.  The  time  had  come  to  gain  favours  from 
the  Pope  by  exciting  the  suspicion  of  any  growing 
sympathy  with  Luther.  Manuel  reports  from 
Rome  (March  20,  1529): 

"  Some  of  the  cardinals  complained  that  the  Emperor 
had  ordered  Luther  into  his  presence,  saying  that  he 
had  arrogated  to  himself  a  jurisdiction  which  belongs  to 
the  Holy  See.  The  Pope  said  that  he  had  been  informed 
that  the  Emperor  was  ill-advised  when  he  decided  to 
see  Martin  Luther,  who  would  not  be  well  received,  even 
in  Hell." ' 

The  summons  which  reached  Luther,  March  26th, 
found  him  thoroughly  absorbed  again  in  literary 
activity.  Priests  having  in  various  quarters  been 
diligently  inquiring  in  the  confessional  concerning 
the  circulation  and  reading  of  his  books,  he  prepared 
a  book  of  instructions  for  those  going  to  confession, 
in  which  he  advised  them  to  refuse  to  make  answer, 
even  though  this  would  involve  their  deprival,  for  a 
time,  of  sacrament,  altar,  priest,  and  church,  "  since 
the  word  of  God  condemned  in  the  bull  is  more 
than  all  things."  *  On  the  day  before  the  burning 
of  the  bull  he  had  begun  a  devotional  commentary 
on  the  Magnificat.  The  first  part  of  his  Evangeli- 
cal Postils,  or  sermons  on  the  Epistles,  was  just  ap- 

1  Calendar  of  State  Papers  (Henry  VIII.),  ii.,  1341. 
*  Erlangen,  24  :  202  sqq. 


i52i]  The  Diet  of  Worms  183 

pearing  from  the  press.  He  was  continuing  his 
comments  on  the  Psalms,  and  was  writing  a  reply 
to  the  attacks  of  a  Dominican,  Ambrosius  Cathari- 
nus.  His  controversial  activity,  upon  which  he 
lamented  that  three  years  of  his  life  had  been  wasted, 
was,  in  his  opinion,  only  a  side  matter,  the  chief 
work  to  which  he  had  been  called  being  that  of  the 
positive  teaching  of  the  word,  as  drawn  from  the 
Scriptures.  But  he  consoled  himself  with  Neh.  iv., 
17,  and  kept  three  presses  going  as,  day  and  night, 
his  pen  flew  on. 

It  was  Holy  Week,  when  the  Imperial  herald, 
Caspar  Sturm,  arrived  at  Wittenberg  with  the  cita- 
tion. Hastily  finishing,  on  Easter  Monday,  his 
answer  to  Catharinus,  Luther  started  the  next  day, 
April  2d,  accompanied  by  his  colleague,  Ams- 
dorf,  an  Augustinian  brother,  Petzensteiner  (for  it 
was  the  rule  of  the  Order  that  its  members  must 
travel  two  by  two),  and  a  young  Pomeranian  noble- 
man, Swaven,  a  representative  of  the  students.  The 
city  of  Wittenberg  furnished  them  with  a  convey- 
ance. The  herald  rode  in  advance,  while  Luther 
was  also  well  protected  by  letters  of  safe-conduct 
from  the  Emperor  and  the  various  princes  through 
whose  territory  he  had  to  pass.  Greeted  by  the 
cordial  welcome  of  multitudes,  his  course  became 
almost  a  continual  ovation.  His  reception  at  Erfurt 
was  marked  by  such  demonstration  that  he  was  dis- 
satisfied, as  he  deemed  it  inconsistent  with  the 
nature  of  the  spiritual  kingdom,  for  whose  advance- 
ment he  was  contending.  The  Rector  of  the  Univer- 
sity, with  forty  horsemen,  met  him  at  Nohra,  ten 


1 84  Martin  Luther 

miles  to  the  east.  Professors,  students,  large  num- 
bers of  the  citizens,  formed  a  procession,  in  hon- 
our of  Erfurt's  alumnus.  Streets,  doors,  windows, 
towers,  walls,  were  filled  with  eager  spectators. 
There  were  festive  orations  and  poems.  Tarrying 
over  Sunday  at  his  old  home,  the  Augustinian  mon- 
astery, when  he  preached  on  the  Easter  message, 
"  Peace  be  unto  you,"  the  crowd  was  so  dense  that 
there  was  an  ominous  crack  as  though  the  beams 
were  giving  way.  The  threatened  panic  was  at 
once  stayed  by  his  words:  "  I  know  thy  tricks,  O 
Satan.  Fear  not,  there  is  no  danger;  the  devil 
wants  to  prevent  me  from  preaching  the  Gospel,  but 
he  cannot  do  it."  Continuing  his  journey,  he 
preached  at  Gotha  and  Eisenach. 

Meanwhile  the  political  complications  at  Worms 
had  taken  another  turn.  Unwearied  in  their  efforts 
to  prevent  Luther's  appearance,  the  papal  ambassa- 
dors had  at  last  succeeded  in  procuring  an  Imperial 
edict  for  the  delivery  and  burning  of  Luther's  books. 
This  was  practically  a  condemnation  in  advance,  and 
seemed  to  render  Luther's  presence  unnecessary; 
but  the  Emperor  tried  to  steer  between  the  two 
parties  by  saying  that  Luther  was  summoned  only 
for  the  purpose  of  having  him  recant.  At  Weimar 
this  edict  reached  him,  and  its  intention  was  imme- 
diately seen.  The  Imperial  herald,  who  was  favour- 
ably disposed  to  Luther,  asked  whether  he  would 
proceed.  Only  for  a  brief  moment  did  he  tremble; 
but  quickly  regaining  his  self-possession,  he  an- 
swered:  "  Yes.  I  will  proceed,  and  entrust  myself 
to  the  Emperor's  protection,"  thus  foiling  the  plan 


i52i]  The  Diet  of  Worms  185 

of  his  adversaries  to  have  him  condemned  for  con- 
tumacy in  disobeying  the  summons.  Worn  out  and 
sick,  he  wrote  to  Spalatin  from  Frankfort:  "  Christ 
lives;  and  we  shall  enter  Worms,  though  all  the 
gates  of  Hell  and  powers  of  the  air  be  unwilling."  ' 
From  still  another  side  was  the  effort  made  to 
deter  him.  Glapio,  the  confessor  of  Charles,  made 
a  visit  to  Sickingen,  then  at  his  castle  at  Ebern- 
burg,  and  impressing  him  with  the  great  peril  that 
awaited  Luther,  enlisted  his  influence  in  the 
scheme  to  keep  Luther  from  Worms.  At  Op- 
penheim,  Luther's  last  stopping-place  before  reach- 
ing Worms,  fifteen  miles  to  the  south,  a  band  of 
knights  intercepted  him,  accompanying  the  late 
Dominican  monk,  Martin  Bucer,  who  had  been  en- 
trusted with  the  commission  of  informing  Luther 
of  Glapio's  representations,  and  inviting  him  to 
take  refuge  in  Sickingen's  castle.  "  If  the  Em- 
peror's confessor,"  answered  Luther,  "  wants  to 
speak  with  me,  he  can  do  so  at  Worms."  As  he 
resumed  his  journey,  a  message  from  Spalatin  re- 
minded him  of  the  fate  of  Hus.  Then  it  is  said 
that  he  uttered  the  memorable  words:  "  Though 
there  be  as  many  devils  in  Worms,  as  tiles  in  the 
roofs,  I  will  enter."  He  had  been  summoned  to 
make  a  public  confession  and  to  stand  a  public  trial, 
and  he  could  not  be  deterred  by  the  arts  of  private 
diplomacy.  Shortly  before  his  death,  referring  to 
these  events,  he  said:  "  I  was  unterrified;  I  was 
afraid  of  nothing.  God  can  make  one  so  daring! 

1  "  Intrabimus  Wormatiam,  invitis  omnibus  portis  inferni  et  po- 
tentatibus  aerjs."     De  Wette,  I  :  587. 


1 86  Martin  Luther  [i483- 

I  do  not  know  whether,  under  the  same  circum- 
stances, I  should  now  be  so  joyful." 

At  ten  o'clock  in  the  morning  of  Tuesday,  April 
1 6th,  a  trumpet  call  from  the  city  watch  on  the 
dome  of  the  cathedral  announced  to  the  inhabitants 
of  Worms  that  Luther  was  at  hand.  The  dinner- 
tables  (for  at  that  time  such  was  the  usual  hour  for 
dinner)  were  deserted,  while  the  population  turned 
out  en  masse  to  see  him.  A  number  of  Saxon 
noblemen  and  others  belonging  to  the  Elector's 
retinue  had  gone  out  to  escort  him  into  the  city. 
Two  thousand  people  accompanied  him  to  his  lodg- 
ings in  the  house  of  the  Knights  of  St.  John.  In 
front  rode  the  Imperial  herald,  then  Luther  with  his 
three  friends;  then,  on  horseback,  Drs.  Jerome 
Schurf  and  Justus  Jonas,  and  an  escort  from  Erfurt; 
and,  in  the  rear,  his  Saxon  friends.  "  God  will  be 
with  me,"  he  said  to  those  who  greeted  him.  The 
indignation  of  Aleander  knew  no  bounds.  A  here- 
tic, he  thought,  should  have  been  brought  into  the 
city  with  the  utmost  privacy.  But  this  demonstra- 
tion had  the  sanction  of  being  preceded  by  the  Im- 
perial herald !  Not  only  was  he  forced  to  recognise 
how  strongly  the  tide  of  popular  sentiment  was  with 
Luther,  but  he  was  smarting  under  the  insolent 
letters  of  Hutten,  who  had  actually  ordered  the  re- 
presentative of  the  Pope  out  of  Germany,  and  had 
threatened  that,  if  the  order  were  not  promptly 
obeyed,  he  should  not  return  to  Italy  alive. 

With  wise  forethought  the  Elector  had  provided 
lodgings  for  Luther  in  the  same  house  with  the  Im- 
perial marshal,  Pappenheim,  and  in  the  same  room 


The  Diet  of  Worms  187 

with  two  Saxon  noblemen.  A  constant  stream  of 
visitors  flocked  to  his  quarters,  so  that  it  was  nearly 
midnight  before  he  could  be  alone.  Unable  to 
sleep,  he  spent  a  good  portion  of  the  night  at  the 
window  in  prayer  and  in  gently  touching  his  lute. 
Early  the  next  morning,  while  Aleander  was  arrang- 
ing with  the  Emperor  the  details  of  the  proceedings 
against  him,  he  heard  the  confession,  and  adminis- 
tered the  communion  to  a  Saxon  nobleman  who  was 
sick  unto  death. 

Summoned  to  appear  before  the  Diet  at  four 
o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  he  was  conducted  thither 
by  the  Imperial  marshal  and  the  herald  who  had 
brought  him  from  Wittenberg.1  The  streets  were  so 
thronged  that,  in  order  to  reach  the  Episcopal  palace, 
where  the  Diet  was  in  session,  they  were  compelled  to 
pass  through  the  gardens  and  alleys.  Reaching  the 
palace,  as  far  as  eye  could  see  a  vast  crowd  of  men 
extended,  while  windows  and  roofs  were  also  called 
into  service.  Six  o'clock  came  before  he  was  ad- 
mitted to  the  hall.  Within  and  by  the  open  doors 
and  windows,  about  five  thousand  men,  Germans, 
Italians,  Netherlanders,  Spaniards,  had  congregated. 
Contarini,  the  Venetian  ambassador,  says:  "  In  a 
hall,  seated  on  a  chair  of  state  which  was  covered  with 
gold  brocade  and  overhung  by  a  canopy  of  the  same 
material,  sat  the  Emperor;  on  the  one  side  were 
seated  all  the  electors;  on  the  other,  the  cardinals." 
What  thoughts  of  Luther  occurred  to  many  as  he 

1  For  proceedings  at  Worms,  see  Op.  var.  arg.,  vi.,  I  sqq. ;  Er- 
langen,  66:  367  sqq. ;  Weimar,  vii.,  814  sqq.;  Calendar  of  State 
Papers  (Venetian)  under  dates. 


1 88  Martin  Luther  [1483- 

appeared,  and  against  what  prejudices  he  had  to  find 
a  hearing,  may  also  be  learned  from  the  same  de- 
spatches : 

"  Luther  has  reached  such  a  pitch  of  madness,  that  he 
rejects  the  decrees  of  the  Councils,  says  that  any  layman 
can  administer  the  sacrament  of  the  eucharist,  that  mat- 
rimony can  be  dissolved,  that  simple  fornication  is  no 
sin,  and  hints  at  that  community  of  women,  of  which 
Plato  treats  in  his  Republic." 

On  a  table,  or  bench,  in  front  of  the  Emperor,  lay 
copies  of  a  number  of  Luther's  books.  Before  such 
an  audience,  aware  of  the  unequal  terms  upon  which 
he  would  be  compelled  to  plead  his  cause,  and 
thoroughly  unacquainted  with  the  mode  of  pro- 
cedure, it  is  not  surprising  that  at  first  his  embar- 
rassment was  manifest.  The  program  had  been 
arranged  by  Aleander.  A  jurist  from  the  retinue 
of  the  Elector  of  Treves,  whose  name  by  a  singular 
coincidence  was  that  of  Luther's  lifelong  opponent, 
Dr.  John  von  Eck,  had  been  selected  to  represent 
the  Emperor.  Without  the  privilege  of  any  argu- 
ment, Luther  was  to  answer  categorically  two  ques- 
tions, and  was  addressed  accordingly,  first  in  Latin 
and  then  in  German:  "  Martin,  'the  Emperor  has 
summoned  you  hither  to  answer,  first,  whether  you 
have  written  these  books  and  others  published  under 
your  name ;  and,  secondly,  whether  you  will  recant, 
or  abide  by  them  ?  " 

Any  purpose  to  charge  Luther  with  the  authorship 
of  what  he  had  not  written  and  to  gain  his  admis- 
sion, was  met  by  the  interposition  of  Luther's  legal 


PROGENIES  •  DI  VVM<  ay  INTVS  -  sic « CARQLVS  •  ILLB 

iMPERII •  CAESAR-  LVMINA"  ET  -  ORA  -TVLIT 
SVAE 


AET  SVAE  XXXI 

ANN  •  M     D  -  xxxi 


EMPEROR  CHARLES  V. 

FROM  AN  ENGRAVING  BY  BARTEL  BEHAM,  1631. 


The  Diet  of  Worms  189 

adviser,  Dr.  Jerome  Schurf,  the  Wittenberg  Pro- 
fessor of  Jurisprudence,  who  called  out:  "  Let  the 
titles  be  read."  When  this  had  been  done,  Luther 
answered  in  a  low  and  scarcely  audible  voice,  and 
with  a  shaking  of  the  head,  betraying  his  embarrass- 
ment, that  he  had  written  them.  His  answer  to  the 
second  question  was,  that  since  it  concerned  his 
soul's  salvation,  he  must  have  time  for  considera- 
tion. The  Emperor  expressed  the  opinion  that  the 
question  was  one  for  which  Luther  ought  to  be 
prepared  to  make  an  immediate  answer,  but,  after 
considerable  delay  and  consultation  with  his  advisers, 
he  granted  Luther's  request  for  a  postponement 
until  the  next  day  at  the  same  hour.  The  possibil- 
ity of  receding  from  his  position  Luther  never  con- 
templated. That  night  he  wrote:  "  I  shall  not 
recant  an  iota,  if  Christ  be  gracious  to  me."  But 
the  importance  of  the  question  demanded  delibera- 
tion, and  as  his  answer  would  be  a  formal  confession 
of  his  faith  not  only  before  the  Emperor,  but,  as 
the  results  show,  for  all  time,  he  was  concerned  as 
to  the  manner  in  which  that  confession  should  be 
made. 

The  crowd  the  next  day,  Thursday,  April  i8th, 
was,  if  possible,  still  greater.  A  larger  hall  had 
been  procured,  but  it  was  so  packed  that  even 
the  princes  had  difficulty  to  find  places.  The 
absence  of  the  legates  was  conspicuous.  On  his 
way  a  veteran  officer,  George  von  Freundsburg, 
had  said,  as  he  passed:  "  My  poor  monk,  you 
have  a  fight  before  you  to-day,  such  as  neither  I 
nor  any  of  my  comrades  in  arms  have  ever  had  in 


Martin  Luther  [i483- 

our  hottest  battles."  Night  had  already  fallen, 
and  when  Luther  entered,  the  lights  in  the  hall 
were  lit.  With  a  brief  preface,  Eck  repeated  the 
question  of  the  preceding  day  concerning  his  re- 
cantation. Then,  with  a  profound  bow,  Luther 
rose.  All  the  diffidence  of  the  former  interview 
was  past.  His  voice  was  firm  and  clear;  his  entire 
bearing,  while  courteous,  that  of  one  who  had  the 
fullest  faith  in  the  justice  and  the  ultimate  triumph 
of  his  cause.  After  an  introduction,  in  which  he 
begged  pardon  for  any  breach  of  propriety  that  his 
inexperience  in  the  customs  of  such  assemblies  might 
occasion,  since  his  training  had  been  entirely  that  of 
a  monk,  he  proceeded  to  the  question.  His  books, 
he  said,  were  not  all  of  one  kind.  Were  he  to  re- 
pudiate those  the  truth  and  correctness  of  which 
were  acknowledged  by  his  adversaries,  he  would  be 
the  only  man  condemning  them.  Neither  could 
those  written  against  the  manifest  tyranny  and  cor- 
ruptions of  the  Papacy  be  recanted  without  conniv- 
ing at  wickedness.  A  third  class  of  books  was 
directed  against  individuals  who  had  undertaken  to 
defend  the  Papacy.  Although  here  he  freely  ac- 
knowledged that  he  had  sometimes  written  with 
more  acerbity  than  was  becoming,  yet  the  books 
themselves  could  not  be  recanted  without  giving  his 
opponents  support  for  a  statement  that,  on  the 
topics  treated,  he  had  receded  from  his  antagonism. 
Quoting  the  words  of  Christ,  John  xviii.,  23,  he 
asked  for  a  refutation  of  his  books,  from  the  pro- 
phetical and  apostolical  Scriptures.  "  I  am  ready, 
if  convicted,  to  recall  every  error,  and  will  be  the 


i52i]  The  Diet  of  Worms  191 

first  to  throw  my  books  into  the  fire."  Divisions 
because  of  the  Gospel  are  only  what  the  Lord,  who 
came  not  to  send  peace,  but  a  sword,  had  told 
us  to  expect.  Then  he  warned  the  young  Emperor 
to  beware  of  committing  himself  to  a  policy  like 
that  of  Pharaoh  and  the  King  of  Babylon,  and  many 
of  the  kings  of  Israel. 

"  For  God  takes  the  wise  in  their  own  craftiness,  and 
causes  the  mountains  to  fall  before  they  know  it.  This 
I  say,  not  as  though  such  exalted  dignitaries  stand  in 
need  of  my  admonition,  but  because  I  cannot  withdraw 
myself  from  the  service  which  I  owe  to  Germany.  I 
commit  myself,  therefore,  to  Your  Majesty,  with  the 
prayer  that  you  will  not  allow  my  cause  to  be  prejudiced 
by  my  adversaries." 

This  answer,  first  made  in  Latin,  was  then  re- 
peated in  German.  Many,  however,  reverse  the  order. 
As  the  room  was  close  and  overheated,  he  was  told 
that,  if  he  so  desired,  he  could  be  excused  from  this 
additional  exertion ;  but  he  preferred  to  be  so  heard. 

Luther's  reply  was  followed  by  a  consultation  be- 
tween the  Emperor  and  his  counsellors, — after  which 
Dr.  Eck  answered  that  they  were  not  there  to  hold 
a  disputation.  If  the  errors,  which  he  held  in  com- 
mon with  Wiclif  and  Hus,  were  recanted,  everything 
new  that  was  found  in  his  works  could  be  referred 
to  learned  men,  who  would  judge  it  impartially. 
The  Emperor,  he  said,  demanded  a  simple  answer, 
"  without  horns." 

"Well,  then,"  said  Luther,  "since  His  Imperial 
Majesty  wants  a  plain  answer,  I  shall  give  him  a  plain 


192  Martin  Luther 

answer,  without  horns  and  teeth.  Unless  I  be  refuted 
by  Scriptural  testimonies,  or  by  clear  arguments — for  I 
believe  neither  the  Pope  nor  the  councils  alone,  since  it 
is  clear  that  they  have  often  erred  and  contradicted  one 
another — I  am  convinced  by  the  passages  of  Scripture, 
which  I  have  cited,  and  my  conscience  is  bound  in  the 
word  of  God.  I  cannot  and  will  not  recant  anything ; 
since  it  is  insecure  and  dangerous  to  act  against 
conscience." 

In  his  astonishment,  the  Emperor  is  said  to  have 
then  suggested  the  question  whether  Luther  actually 
were  of  the  opinion  that  councils  could  err.  The 
answer  was:  "  Of  course;  because  they  have  often 
erred.  For,  since  the  Council  of  Constance  decided 
in  many  points  against  the  clear  text  of  Holy  Script- 
ure, Holy  Scripture  forces  me  to  say  that  councils 
have  erred."  Dr.  Eck  declared  that  it  could  not  be 
proved  that  general  councils  had  erred ;  Luther  said 
that  he  was  ready  to  prove  it.  The  disputation  that 
they  had  proclaimed  they  would  avoid  was  begin- 
ning. The  Emperor  rose  to  conclude  the  session. 
A  confusion  followed,  in  which  Luther  again,  in 
words  that  were  scarcely  heard  above  the  din,  com- 
mended himself  to  the  Emperor,  and  finally,  in 
louder  tones,  exclaimed:  "  I  cannot  do  otherwise. 
Here  I  stand.  God  help  me !  "  ' 

Two  guards,  whose  presence  the  outbreak  of  the 
indignation  of  the  Spaniards  rendered  necessary, 
having  been  ordered  to  accompany  him  as  he  left 

1  The  explanation  of  the  confusion  of  authorities  concerning  these 
words,  Kolde  regards  as  owing  to  the  fact  that  they  were  spoken  in 
the  tumult.  See  note,  i.,  393. 


The  Diet  of  Worms  193 

the  hall,  there  was  a  moment  of  intense  excitement, 
when  it  was  supposed  that  he  had  been  arrested. 

"  I  am  through !  lam  through  !  I  AM  THROUGH !  " 
were  the  exultant  words  with  which  Luther  greeted 
his  friends  at  his  lodgings.  "  Even  though  I  had  a 
hundred  heads,  I  would  have  had  them  all  cut  off  at 
once  before  I  would  have  recanted  anything."  His 
hearing  had  lasted  just  about  two  hours.  The  tank- 
ard of  Eimbeck  beer,  sent  by  Duke  Erich  of  Bruns- 
wick, before  he  left  the  Episcopal  palace,  and  the 
visits  to  his  lodgings  of  a  number  of  princes  and 
dukes,  among  them  Philip  of  Hesse,  who  assured 
him:  "  You  are  right,  Doctor,"  indicated  the  good 
impression  he  had  made  upon  many  in  high  position. 
No  one  was  more  pleased  with  his  course  than  the 
Elector  of  Saxony,  although,  from  prudential 
reasons,  he  kept  at  a  distance.  The  popular  feeling 
was  overwhelmingly  on  his  side.  The  Venetian 
ambassador,  while  prejudiced  in  many  of  his  state- 
ments against  Luther,  writes : 

"  I  cannot  tell  you  how  much  favour  he  enjoys  here, 
which  is  of  such  nature  that,  on  the  Emperor's  departure, 
I  suspect  that  it  will  produce  some  bad  effects,  most 
especially  against  the  prelates  of  Germany.  In  truth, 
had  this  man  been  prudent,  had  he  restricted  himself  to 
his  first  propositions  and  not  entangled  himself  in  mani- 
fest errors  about  the  faith,  he  would  have  been,  I  do  not 
say  favoured,  but  adored  by  the  whole  of  Germany." 

In  another  despatch  he  says:  "  He  has  many 
powerful  partisans,  who  encourage  him,  and  against 


194  Martin  Luther  [1483- 

whom  no  one  dares  to  [proceed].  Luther's  works 
are  sold  publicly  in  Worms,  although  the  Pope  and 
the  Emperor,  who  is  on  the  spot,  have  prohibited 
them."  1  Aleander,  on  the  other  hand,  was  tri- 
umphant in  the  clearness  of  the  case  that  could  now 
be  made  against  Luther. 

On  the  next  morning,  Friday,  April  igth,  the 
Emperor  submitted  to  the  estates  of  the  Empire 
the  proposition  to  immediately  dismiss  Luther 
and  then,  on  the  expiration  of  his  safe-conduct, 
to  proceed  against  him  as  a  heretic.  That  night, 
a  placard  on  the  City  Hall,  or  Rathhaus,  pledged 
four  hundred  knights  to  the  defence  of  Luther. 
Although  ridiculed  by  the  Emperor,  the  German 
princes  regarded  this  a  most  serious  matter,  and 
prevailed  upon  Charles  to  endeavour  to  conciliate 
Luther  by  means  of  a  commission  that  would 
confer  with  him  in  a  less  formal  manner.  Wednes- 
day, April  24th,  at  6  A.M.,  the  commission,  under 
the  presidency  of  the  Archbishop  and  Elector  of 
Treves,  and  comprising  besides  himself,  the  Elec- 
tor of  Brandenburg,  Duke  George  of  Saxony,  the 
bishops  of  Augsburg  and  Brandenburg,  the  head- 
master of  the  German  knights,  Albrecht  of  Branden- 
burg, the  Duke  of  Wertheim,  two  representatives 
of  the  free  cities,  Peutinger  of  Augsburg,  and  Bock 
of  Strassburg,  and  the  Chancellor  of  the  Margrave 
of  Baden,  Dr.  Jerome  Vehus,  began  their  sessions. 
Their  conference  with  Luther,  two  days  later,  in 
which  he  was  accompanied  by  Schurf,  Jonas,  Ams- 
dorf,  and  Spalatin,  was  fruitless;  as  was  also  the 

1  Calendar  of  State  Papers  (Venetian),  376  sqq.,  under  dates  given. 


i52i]  The  Diet  of  Worms  195 

more  private  interview,  for  three  hours,  on  the 
morning  of  the  25th,  with  Drs.  Peutinger  and 
Vehus,  and,  on  the  afternoon  of  the  same  day,  with 
the  Archbishop  of  Treves. 

All  efforts  having  failed,  and  the  Archbishop  of 
Treves  having  been  asked  by  Luther  to  secure  from 
the  Emperor  leave  for  immediate  departure,  the 
formal  dismissal  was  delivered  to  him  at  his  lodgings 
by  Dr.  Eck  and  the  Emperor's  private  secretary. 
The  Emperor  stated  that,  as  defender  of  the  Catho- 
lic faith,  he  must  proceed  against  Luther,  but  that, 
meanwhile,  the  safe-conduct  would  be  faithfully 
observed;  Luther,  however,  was  to  refrain  from 
preaching  and  writing.  His  answer  was  a  cour- 
teous acknowledgment  of  the  Emperor's  consider- 
ation, as  shown  throughout  the  Diet,  and  the 
promise  to  comply  with  the  Imperial  request,  ex- 
cept so  far  as  it  affected  the  binding  of  God's 
word.  The  next  day,  Friday,  April  26th,  he  left. 
The  battle  for  freedom  of  conscience  had  been 
fought  and  won. 

The  account  of  Luther's  experience  at  Worms 
would  be  incomplete  without  a  reference  to  the 
prayer  made  in  his  room  during  the  crisis,  which, 
tradition  says,  some  one  heard,  and  immediately 
committed  to  writing,  and  in  which,  according  to 
his  habit  of  praying  aloud,  he  commended  himself 
to  God  in  language  of  such  eloquence  and  fervour, 
and  with  so  many  individual  characteristics,  that 
every  consideration  of  internal  evidence  points  to 
its  genuineness.  It  is  his  great  hymn,  Ein  fest< 
Burg,  in  prose. 


196  Martin  Luther  [i483- 

"  Almighty  and  Eternal  God,  how  is  there  but  one 
thing  to  be  seen  upon  earth  !  How  the  people  open 
wide  their  mouths  !  How  small  and  insignificant  is  their 
trust  in  God  !  How  tender  and  weak  the  flesh,  and  how 
mighty  and  active  the  devil,  working  through  his  apos- 
tles and  those  wise  in  this  world  !  How  the  world  draws 
back  the  hand,  and  snarls,  as  it  runs  the  common  course 
— the  broad  way  to  Hell,  where  the  godless  belong  !  It 
has  regard  only  for  what  is  pretentious  and  powerful, 
great  and  mighty.  If  I  should  turn  my  eyes  in  that 
direction,  it  would  be  all  over  with  me  ;  the  clock  would 
strike  the  hour,  and  sentence  would  be  passed.  O  God  ! 
O  God  !  O  Thou,  my  God  !  Do  Thou,  my  God,  stand 
by  me,  against  all  the  world's  wisdom  and  reason.  Oh,  do 
it !  Thou  must  do  it !  Yea,  Thou  alone  must  do  it ! 
Not  mine,  but  Thine,  is  the  cause.  For  my  own  self,  I 
have  nothing  to  do  with  these  great  earthly  lords.  I 
would  prefer  to  have  peaceful  days,  and  to  be  out  of  this 
turmoil.  But  Thine,  O  Lord,  is  this  cause  ;  it  is  right- 
eous and  eternal.  Stand  by  me,  Thou  true  Eternal 
God  !  In  no  man  do  I  trust.  All  that  is  of  the  flesh 
and  that  savours  of  the  flesh,  is  here  of  no  account.  God, 
O  God  I  dost  Thou  not  hear  me,  O  my  God  ?  Art  Thou 
dead  ?  No.  Thou  canst  not  die  ;  Thou  art  only  hiding 
Thyself.  Hast  Thou  chosen  me  for  this  work  ?  I  ask 
Thee  how  I  may  be  sure  of  this,  if  it  be  Thy  will :  for  I 
would  never  have  thought,  in  all  my  life,  of  undertaking 
aught  against  such  great  lords.  Stand  by  me,  O  God,  in 
the  Name  of  Thy  dear  Son,  Jesus  Christ,  who  shall  be 
my  Defence  and  Shelter,  yea,  my  Mighty  Fortress, 
through  the  might  and  strength  of  Thy  Holy  Ghost. 
Lord,  where  abidest  Thou  ?  Thou  art  my  God  ;  where 
art  Thou  ?  Come  !  come  !  I  am  ready  to  lay  down  my 
life  patiently  as  a  lamb.  For  the  cause  is  right  and  it  is 


i52i]  The  Diet  of  Worms  197 

Thine,  so  shall  I  never  be  separated  from  Thee.  Let 
all  be  done  in  Thy  Name  !  The  world  must  leave  my 
conscience  unconstrained  ;  and,  although  it  should  be 
full  of  devils,  and  my  body,  Thy  handiwork  and  creation, 
be  rent  into  fragments,  yet  Thy  Word  and  Spirit  are  good 
to  me.  All  this  can  befall  only  the  body  ;  the  soul  is 
Thine,  and  belongs  to  Thee,  and  shall  abide  with  Thee 
eternally.  Amen.  God  help  me.  Amen." ' 

After  the  Elector  of  Saxony  had  left  Worms,  on 
May  26th,  the  Imperial  edict  against  Luther  was 
published,  although  bearing  the  date  of  eighteen 
days  before,  and  at  the  same  time  the  Pope  and  the 
Emperor  made  common  cause  against  the  King  of 
France. 


1  Erlangen,  64  :  289  sqq. 


JoESE 

XtfPHNir. 

T3ECTA.  FAEWMrJ 


LUTHER  AS  A  KNIQHT. 


CHAPTER   IX 

AT  THE  WARTBURG 

ON  Friday,  April  26,  1521,  at  10  A.M.,  with  the 
comrades  who  had  accompanied  him  from 
Wittenberg,  and  Dr.  Schurf,  Luther  left  Worms.  In 
order  not  to  give  the  matter  too  much  importance, 
the  Imperial  herald  delayed  his  departure  for  some 
hours,  joining  the  party  at  Oppenheim  that  evening. 
On  the  next  day  he  reached  Frankfort,  from  which 
place  he  wrote  to  his  friend  the  painter,  Lucas  Cran- 
ach,  at  Wittenberg,  that,  for  a  time,  he  would  not  be 
heard  of.  A  plan  had  been  devised,  probably  by 
John,  the  Elector's  brother,  for  the  twofold  purpose 
of  sheltering  Luther  from  impending  danger,  and 
preventing  him  from  irritating  his  enemies  by  any 
further  public  utterances.  The  details  of  the  plan 
were  concealed  from  all  except  those  who  were  to 
execute  it.  The  night  before  leaving  Worms, 
Luther  and  Amsdorf  were  admitted  to  the  secret. 
After  another  day's  journey,  at  Friedberg,  the  herald 

198 


1522]  At  the  Wartburg  199 

was  dismissed,  in  order  that  the  plan  might  be  car- 
ried out,  and  with  him  Luther  sent  back  two  letters, 
one  to  the  Emperor  and  the  other  to  the  princes  in 
session  at  the  Diet,  explaining  why  it  had  been  im- 
possible for  him  to  recant. 

At  Hersfeld  he  received  an  ovation,  being  most 
cordially  greeted  by  the  Benedictines,  and  formally 
received  by  the  magistrates.  The  next  morning 
(May  2d)  he  preached  at  5  A.M.,  and  that  night 
reached  Eisenach.  Here  also  the  demand  to  hear 
him  was  so  great  that  he  preached  again,  although 
the  parish  priest  protested.  At  Eisenach  three  of 
the  party  left  him,  Amsdorf  and  Petzensteiner  ac- 
companying him  into  the  Thuringian  forest  on  a 
visit  to  his  grandmother,  his  uncle,  and  other  rela- 
tives. Preaching  again  at  Mohra,  the  ancestral  home 
of  his  family,  eight  and  three  quarter  miles  south 
of  Eisenach,  he  was  accompanied  for  some  distance 
by  relatives.  After  they  had  left  him,  near  the 
castle  of  Altenstein,  in  the  depths  of  the  forest,  an 
armed  troop  of  horsemen  suddenly  appeared,  and 
carried  Luther  off  as  a  prisoner  to  the  castle  of  the 
Wartburg,  situated  on  an  eminence  overhanging 
Eisenach,  which,  by  a  circuitous  route,  they  reached 
about  ii  P.M.  The  scheme  had  been  executed 
by  Hans  von  Berlepsch,  the  lord  of  the  Wart- 
burg castle,  and  Burchard  von  Hund,  of  the  Al- 
tenstein castle. 

Great  consternation  followed,  as  the  tidings  of 
Luther's  disappearance  spread  throughout  Germany, 
and  the  conviction  became  almost  universal  that  his 
enemies  had  made  away  with  him.  The  indignation 


200  Martin  Luther  [i483- 

grew  to  such  an  extent  that  Aleander,  in  Worms, 
began  to  tremble  for  his  life.  The  Papal  nuncio, 
however,  even  then  suspected  that  "  the  Saxon 
fox,"  as  he  called  the  Elector,  had  concealed  him. 

With  the  secret  of  his  name  unknown  to  any 
about  him  but  his  host  and  hostess,  with  his  monas- 
tic habit  exchanged  for  that  of  a  knight,  with  a  full 
beard,  a  sword  by  his  side  and  a  gold  chain  around 
his  neck,  called  "  Sir  George,"  riding  out  frequently 
with  an  attendant  through  the  wild  mountain  passes, 
occasionally  making  a  hurried  visit  to  the  neighbour- 
ing villages  or  joining  in  the  hunt,  or  gathering 
strawberries  in  the  meadows,  or  looking  forth  upon 
a  wide  landscape  replete  with  memories  of  his  boy- 
hood and  the  homes  of  his  relatives,  no  change  of 
life  could  have  been  more  radical,  or  more  beneficial, 
notwithstanding  his  physical  discomfort  at  times, 
because  of  the  richness  of  his  food.  But  he  could 
not  rest.  Even  the  quiet  study  of  the  Bible  in  its 
original  languages  seemed  idleness.  An  exposition 
of  the  Sixty- Eighth  Psalm,  another  book  on  Confes- 
sion, an  exposition  of  the  Magnificat,  a  controversial 
treatise  in  answer  to  the  Louvain  theologian,  Lato- 
mus,  flowed  with  astonishing  rapidity  from  his  pen. 
Then  he  applied  himself  to  the  continuation  of  his 
commentary  on  the  Psalms,  and  especially  to  the 
beginning  of  his  Postils,  or  sermons  on  the  Gospels 
and  Epistles  for  the  Sundays  and  Festivals  of  the 
Church  Year,  this  time  in  the  German,  as  his  pre- 
vious work  on  the  same  subject  had  been  in  the 
Latin  language.  The  Postils  not  only  afforded  the 
laity  a  plain  exposition  of  Holy  Scripture,  but  also 


1522]  At  the  Wartburg  201 

put  into  the  hands  of  pastors,  so  few  of  whom  had 
been  properly  prepared  for  the  ministry,  both  the 
material  and  the  models  for  their  sermons.  With- 
out artistic  elaboration,  or  even  strictly  logical  order, 
Luther's  sermons  are  the  plain,  earnest,  forceful  ex- 
pression of  his  sincere  convictions,  poured  forth  with 
all  the  ardour  of  extemporaneous  utterance,  but, 
at  the  same  time,  the  ripe  fruit  of  his  extensive 
knowledge  of  Scripture  and  his  deep  Christian  ex- 
perience. At  every  point,  he  teaches,  warns,  ex- 
horts, comforts,  reproves  in  the  language  of  the 
time  and  people,  and  with  respect  to  the  living 
issues  of  the  hour,  always  with  the  utmost  candour, 
and  without  regard  to  the  fear  or  favour  of  men. 

That,  notwithstanding  his  concealment,  Luther's 
influence  was  still  dreaded,  had  soon  a  remarkable 
proof  in  an  incident  which  concerned  his  former  op- 
ponent, the  Archbishop  of  Mayence.  Profiting 
nothing  by  his  sad  experience  in  the  case  of  Tetzel, 
Albrecht's  habitual  pecuniary  straits  had  led  to  the 
publication  of  a  sale  of  indulgences  at  Halle,  which 
offered  39,540,120  years'  and  220  days'  respite  from 
purgatory.  Intimations  of  the  criticism  which  this 
sale  was  likely  to  provoke  from  Luther  having 
reached  him,  Capito,  his  chaplain,  who  was  favour- 
ably inclined  to  the  Reformation,  was  sent  to  Wit- 
tenberg to  prevent  the  attack.  Spalatin  undertook 
to  turn  Luther  from  his  purpose.  As  the  Elector 
was  sheltering  Luther,  in  opposition  to  both  Em- 
peror and  Diet,  he  insisted  that  Luther  should  not 
attack  another  Elector,  who  was  at  the  same  time 
archbishop  and  cardinal.  Luther  was  indignant. 


202  Martin  Luther  [i483- 

Was  he,  who  had  dared  to  withstand  the  Pope,  to 
shrink  from  attacking  his  creature  ?  Far  better 
that  the  whole  world  should  perish  than  that  he 
should  be  hindered  in  warning  Christ's  sheep  of  the 
wolf  that  was  after  them !  All  that  he  could  be  ex- 
pected to  do  was  to  postpone  for  a  time  the  publica- 
tion of  the  book  that  he  had  written.  At  last, 
impatient  at  the  delay,  he  writes  directly  to  the 
Archbishop,  informing  him  that  he  must  not  think 
Luther  dead,  and  that  if,  within  fourteen  days,  no 
answer  be  received,  he  may  expect  to  be  publicly 
exposed.  A  most  humiliating  letter  (December 
2 1st)  followed  from  this  ecclesiastical  and  secular 
prince,  acknowledging  his  sin,  stating  that  the  sale 
of  indulgences  was  suppressed,  and  promising,  for 
the  future,  to  conduct  himself  in  a  Christian  way. 
This  might  have  satisfied  him,  had  it  not  been  fol- 
lowed immediately  by  a  letter  from  Capito,  assuring 
him  that  Albrecht's  sympathies  were  actually  with 
the  Reformation,  but  that  he  sought  to  reach  the 
same  end  by  less  aggressive  methods. 

The  elaborate  treatise  on  Monastic  Vows,  com- 
pleted before  the  close  of  November,  would  alone 
have  constituted  a  most  gratifying  fruit  of  the  de- 
tention at  the  Wartburg.  Most  interesting  is  the 
long  letter  in  which  he  dedicates  the  book  to  his 
father.1  It  shows  most  conclusively  that  the  course 
of  the  son  was,  from  the  beginning  to  the  end,  most 
powerfully  influenced  by  the  father,  and  that,  even 
after  the  former  had  outgrown  the  spell  of  authori- 
ties that  seemed  for  a  time  to  throw  the  advice  of 


1  Op.  var.  arg.,  vi.,  544  sqq.;  Weimar,  vjii.,  564  sqq. 


1522]  At  the  Wartburg  203 

the  humble  miner  into  the  shade,  the  son  recurred 
to,  and  scientifically  vindicated,  his  father's  simple 
judgment.  "  I  want  you  to  know,"  he  writes,  "that 
your  son  has  advanced  so  far  as  to  be  most  firm- 
ly convinced  that  no  observance  is  holier,  none 
higher,  none  more  sacred  than  a  divine  com- 
mand." Then  he  recounts  the  difference  between 
his  father  and  himself,  when  he  entered  the  monas- 
tery, his  father's  just  indignation  that  for  a  time 
withdrew  all  intercourse  from  his  disobedient  son, 
and  how  when  he  at  length  was  reconciled,  it  was 
with  the  open  protest  against  the  sin  he  believed 
that  his  son  had  committed  in  disobeying  him,  and 
becoming  a  monk.  Reviewing  the  circumstances 
now,  he  says  that  he  clearly  sees  that,  even  after  he 
had  entered  the  monastery,  not  a  vow  that  he  made 
was  worth  a  straw,  when  opposed  to  his  father's  will. 
The  Lord,  however,  had  permitted  him  to  enter  into 
that  course  in  order  that  he  might  be  able  to  testify 
how  foolish  were  the  imagined  attainments  of  the 
schools,  and  the  vaunted  holiness  of  monastic  observ- 
ances. "  You  are  still  my  parent,  and  I  am  still 
your  son;  and  all  vows  are  of  no  account."  But 
while  his  father's  authority  had  precedence  above 
all  vows,  there  is  one  sphere,  he  says,  into  which 
that  cannot  enter.  The  call  to  the  ministry  is  of 
divine  appointment,  and  here,  "  he  that  loveth 
father  or  mother  more  than  Me,  is  not  worthy  of 
Me. "  Not  that  the  authority  of  parents  necessarily 
conflicts  with  the  office  of  the  ministry,  but  that, 
if  they  should  conflict,  that  of  Christ  alone  is  to 
prevail. 


2O4  Martin  Luther  [1483, 

"  I  send  this  book,  therefore,  to  you,  in  order  that  you 
may  see  by  what  signs  and  power  Christ  now  has  freed 
me  from  my  monastic  vow,  and  given  me  such  liberty, 
that,  although  I  have  been  made  the  servant  of  all,  yet  I 
am  subject  to  no  one,  but  to  Him  alone.  For  He  is  my 
immediate  Bishop,  Abbot,  Prior,  Lord,  Father,  and 
Master.  None  other  do  I  know." 

At  the  beginning  of  December  he  undertook  a 
secret  journey  to  Wittenberg,  where  he  stayed  for 
several  days  in  the  house  of  Amsdorf,  not  venturing 
to  visit  even  his  own  apartments  at  the  monastery. 
Here  his  portrait  in  the  dress  of  a  knight  was  painted 
by  his  friend  Cranach,  and  conferences  with  trusted 
friends  were  held.  Notwithstanding  his  absence, 
the  University  had  prospered.  Students  crowded 
thither  from  almost  all  European  nations,  for  the 
study  not  only  of  theology,  but  also  of  medicine  and 
jurisprudence.  The  theological  faculty  had  been 
strengthened  by  an  accession  of  youthful  professors. 
Justus  Jonas,  the  Erfurt  jurist,  called  first  to  the 
legal  faculty,  soon  exchanged  it  for  that  of  theology. 
Aurogallus  had  become  Professor  of  Hebrew;  and 
John  Bugenhagen,  whose  services  became  most  in- 
valuable in  the  sphere  of  Church  organisation,  had 
come  to  Wittenberg  while  Luther  was  at  Worms. 
Melanchthon's  energies  had  been  more  and  more 
concentrated  upon  theology,  and  his  text-book,  the 
famous  Loci  Theologici,  was  just  about  appearing. 
Carlstadt,  restless,  ambitious,  contentious,  censori- 
ous in  his  relations  with  his  colleagues,  as  well  as 
with  others,  supported  by  a  kindred  agitator,  the 
Augustinian  Zwilling,  gave  no  heed  to  the  Elector's 


1522]  At  the  Wartburg  205 

cautions,  and  precipitated  radical  changes,  some  of 
them  not  in  themselves  ungrateful  to  Luther.  The 
marriage  of  priests,  the  abandonment  of  monasteries, 
the  abrogation  of  all  authority  within  the  monas- 
teries for  those  who  remained,  the  cessation  of  the 
daily  masses,  the  administration  of  the  communion 
in  both  forms,  were  among  the  earlier  reforms.  As 
previously  at  Erfurt,  so  at  Wittenberg,  the  depre- 
ciation of  the  monastic  orders  was  manifested  in 
open  acts  of  iconoclastic  violence. 

Understanding  well  the  excitable  and  turbulent 
nature  of  students,  and  satisfied  that  their  zeal 
would  soon  abate,  Luther  feared,  from  these  out- 
breaks, no  general  disorder.  The  occasion  never- 
theless seemed  to  demand  his  testimony ;  and  this 
he  gave  in  the  preparation,  immediately  after  his 
return  to  the  Wartburg,  of  his  Admonition  to  all 
Christians  to  Abstain  from  Riot  and  Sedition? 
The  folly  of  violence,  the  dishonour  it  does  to  God's 
order,  the  want  of  confidence  in  God's  own  means 
of  overthrowing  His  enemies  that  it  manifests,  the 
great  prejudice  against  the  evangelical  cause  that  it 
must  inevitably  occasion  are  dwelt  upon.  Riot  and 
sedition  spring  only  from  the  devil.  If  there  be 
evils  for  which  the  magistrates  bring  no  relief, 
recognise  this  condition  of  things  as  the  punishment 
of  sin,  pray  to  God  for  deliverance,  speak,  preach, 
write,  testify  openly  against  the  evil,  as  God  gives 
opportunity.  It  is  not  by  our  efforts,  but  by  the 
breath  of  Christ's  mouth,  that  these  evils  are  to  be 
remedied.  He  complains  of  those  superficial  spirits 

1  Erlangen,  22  :  43  sqq.;  Weimar,  viii.,  670^. 


206  Martin  Luther  [i483- 

who,  when  they  have  read  a  page  or  two,  or  heard 
a  sermon  or  two,  think  themselves  entrusted  with 
a  special  commission  to  go  forth  and  reprove 
others  for  not  holding  to  the  evangelical  faith. 
He  warns  against  the  manner  in  which  his  name 
has  been  abused.  Men  should  be  called  Christians, 
not  Lutherans.  '  What  am  I,  a  miserable  mass  of 
corruption,  that  the  children  of  Christ  should  be 
called  by  my  name !  "  '  Adversaries  are  of  two 
classes.  The  hardened  should  be  left  to  them- 
selves, for  pearls  should  not  be  thrown  before 
swine.  With  those  merely  weak,  great  patience 
must  be  exercised,  and  gentle  means  employed. 
With  wolves,  you  cannot  be  too  severe ;  with  sheep, 
you  cannot  be  too  tender. 

But  the  more  he  appealed  to  the  testimony  of 
Holy  Scripture,  the  more  need  he  felt  of  an  accurate 
translation  in  the  language  of  the  people.  To  be 
guarded  against  errorists  from  both  sides  that  were 
assailing  them,  they  must  have  the  Word  of  God  in 
their  own  hands,  or  they  would  be  carried  into  all 
kinds  of  extravagance.  Polemical  treatises  could 
serve  only  a  temporary  purpose,  until  the  people 
could  be  rooted  and  grounded  in  the  faith  by 
their  own  study  of  Holy  Scripture.  While  there 
were  in  existence  no  less  than  fourteen  previous 
German  translations,  yet  these  were  from  the  Latin 
Vulgate,  lacked  scholarly  precision,  were  marked  by 
a  style  alien  to  that  of  the  people,  and  could  be  pro- 
cured only  at  a  high  price.  During  his  visit  to 
Wittenberg  in  December,  1521,  his  friends  urged 

1  Weimar,  viii.,  685. 


At  the  Wartburg  207 

the  undertaking  of  a  new  translation  of  the  Bible 
into  German,  and  within  a  few  days  after  his  re- 
turn he  was  at  work  upon  it.  His  friend,  Lange 
of  Erfurt,  having  undertaken  a  similar  translation 
that  proceeded  very  slowly,  he  wrote  that  he 
wished  that  every  town  should  have  its  transla- 
tor, so  that  the  Bible  should  be  in  the  tongue, 
hands,  eyes,  ears,  and  hearts  of  all.  The  second 
edition  of  the  Greek  Testament  of  Erasmus  (Basel, 
1518)  furnished  the  text.  With  little  apparatus, 
not  even  consulting  previous  translations  until  the 
first  draught  was  finished,  he  worked  with  such 
rapidity  that  within  three  months  the  entire  New 
Testament  was  in  an  idiomatic  German  that  to  the 
present  hour  is  the  wonder  of  all  literary  critics. 
His  entire  life  and  character  are  reflected  in  the 
style.  All  his  attainments  are  kept  subordinate  to 
the  one  object  of  presenting  the  thoughts  of  Revela- 
tion in  language  that  is  the  simplest  and  most  intel- 
ligible to  all  classes  of  the  people.  In  giving  the 
Germans  their  Bible  he  gave  the  German  language 
a  permanent  literary  form,  and,  upon  the  basis  of  a 
common  language  replacing  the  confusion  of  dialects 
that  had  heretofore  been  current,  unified  the  German 
people.  The  work  was  rendered  relatively  easy  by 
his  thorough  acquaintance  with  both  the  language 
and  the  spirit  of  Scripture.  His  translation  is  not 
only  a  rendering  of  the  original  into  another  tongue; 
it  is  an  interpretation  that  touches  at  once  the  heart 
and  very  life  of  the  most  unlettered  as  well  as  the 
most  learned.  The  achievement  of  those  three 
months  would  alone  have  given  him  lasting  fame. 


208 


Martin  Luther 


[1522 


Having  calculated  with  considerable  accuracy  the 
length  of  time  required,  he  announced  to  his  friends 
his  purpose  to  return  to  Wittenberg  after  Easter. 
He  desired,  with  the  aid  of  his  associates,  to  subject 
his  translation  to  a  thorough  revision,  and  then  to 
proceed  to  the  Old  Testament,  for  which  his  limited 
acquaintance  with  the  Hebrew  rendered  their  co- 
operation indispensable. 


MELANCHTHON'S  COAT  OF  ARMS. 


BOOK  III 

THE  REFORMER 
1522-1546 


DEMWTtt.  DA&'  JD1E. 
OMR  S(DER"VBERC£, 


ELECTOR  JOHN  OF  SAXONY. 


CHAPTER  I 

CARLSTADT  AND  THE  ZWICKAU  PROPHETS 

LUTHER  was  compelled  to  hasten  from  the 
Wartburg  because  of  the  alarming  progress 
that  the  radical  element  had  made  at  Wittenberg. 
The  administration  of  the  Lord's  Supper  in  both 
forms  would  not  have  met  his  disapproval  at  the 
time,  if  it  had  not  been  accompanied  by  the  aboli- 
tion of  all  means  whereby  communicants  were  pre- 
pared for  the  service.  In  the  neighbourhood, 
Zwilling  discarded  the  vestments  of  the  Mass,  sub- 
stituted the  German  for  the  Latin  language,  and 
gave  the  cup  and  wafers  into  the  hands  of  commun- 
icants. The  altars  were  removed  from  the  chapel 
of  the  Augustinians  and  the  images  of  the  saints 
burned.  Carlstadt  affirmed  that  the  Ten  Command- 
ments were  aimed  as  directly  against  the  retention 
of  images  in  the  churches  as  against  adultery  or 
theft.  The  sick  and  dying  were  left  without  the 
consolations  of  the  Gospel,  and  criminals  were  led 

211 


212  Martin  Luther  [1483- 

to  execution,  as  the  ox  meets  its  fate,  without  a 
word  of  religious  instruction  or  prayer.  Small 
children  were  given  the  Lord's  Supper.  Carlstadt, 
Zwilling,  and  More,  the  rector  of  the  Boys'  School, 
visited  the  plainest  of  the  people,  to  seek  from  them 
the  interpretation  of  difficult  passages  of  Scripture, 
upon  the  assumption  that  these  things  are  hidden 
from  the  wise  and  prudent,  and  revealed  only  to 
babes.  All  learning  and  study  were  disparaged,  and 
parents  were  advised  to  take  their  children  from 
school.  The  University  began  to  feel  the  effects  of 
such  teaching.  Students  were  abandoning  their 
course,  and  even  professors  were  contemplating  a 
change  of  occupation. 

The  later  extravagances  of  Carlstadt  had  been 
stimulated  by  a  foreign  influence  that  had  entered 
Wittenberg,  and  found  there  a  soil  ready  for  its 
activity.  On  December  27,  1521,  three  men  arrived 
in  the  town,  who  were  followers  and  propagandists 
of  the  opinions  of  Thomas  Muenzer  of  Zwickau. 
Two  of  them  were  by  trade  cloth-weavers,  of  whom 
the  leader,  Nicholas  Storch,  was  one,  while  the  third 
member  of  the  party  was  a  former  Wittenberg 
student,  who  had  lived  in  Melanchthon's  house, 
Mark  Thomas  Stuebner.  They  depreciated  the 
authority  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  professed  to  have 
immediate  revelations  and  a  direct  call  from  God, 
and  attacked  the  validity  of  infant  baptism.  At 
Wittenberg  they  were  listened  to  with  surprising 
consideration.  Melanchthon  and  Amsdorf  were  un- 
prepared to  withstand  them,  and  were  much  per- 
plexed. An  earnest  appeal  was  made  to  the  Elector 


1522]          The  Zwickau  Prophets          213 

that  Luther  be  sent  for,  as  he  only  was  able  to  deal 
with  the  difficult  questions  that  were  thus  raised. 
That  some  supernatural  influence  was  at  work  within 
them  was  to  Melanchthon  a  matter  of  certainty.  He 
hesitated  to  say  that  it  was  not  of  God.  Neither 
the  Elector  nor  Luther  regarded  the  crisis  so  im- 
portant. Luther  wrote  a  mild  letter  of  reproof  to 
Melanchthon : 

"  I  cannot  approve  of  your  timidity,"  he  writes.  "  When 
they  make  professions  concerning  themselves,  they  are 
not  to  be  immediately  heard,  but,  according  to  the  direc- 
tions of  John,  the  spirits  must  be  tested.  You  have  also 
the  advice  of  Gamaliel  concerning  deferring  judgment, 
for  there  is  nothing,  as  far  as  I  have  heard,  that  they  have 
said  or  done,  that  Satan  cannot  imitate.  Only  try,  in 
my  stead,  whether  they  can  prove  their  vocation.  For 
God  never  sent  any  one,  not  even  His  Son,  unless  called 
by  man,  or  approved  by  signs.  Examine  whether  they 
have  experienced  spiritual  distress.  If  you  hear  only 
smooth,  tranquil,  devout,  and  religious  things  of  them, 
even  though  they  profess  to  have  been  carried  to  the 
third  heaven,  do  not  give  them  your  approval,  because 
the  sign  of  the  Son  of  Man  is  wanting.  Try  them,  there- 
fore, and  listen  not  even  to  the  glorified  Christ  unless 
you  have  first  seen  Him  crucified." 

In  answer  to  their  attack  upon  infant  baptism,  he 
says: 

"  They  urge  nothing  but  the  passage  :  '  He  that  be- 
lieveth  and  is  baptised,  shall  be  saved.'  But  what  proof 
is  there  that  infants  do  not  believe  ?  Is  it  that  they  do 
not  speak  and  declare  their  faith?  According  to  this 


Martin  Luther  [1483- 

test,  at  how  many  hours  will  we  be  Christians  ?  What 
when  we  are  asleep,  or  engaged  in  other  matters  ?  Can- 
not God,  then,  preserve  faith  in  children  in  the  same 
way,  during  the  entire  time  of  their  infancy,  as  in  a  con- 
tinual sleep  ?  ...  By  a  singular  miracle  of  God,  it 
has  come  to  pass  that  this  article  alone  concerning  the 
baptism  of  infants  has  never  been  called  in  question. 
No  heretics,  even,  have  denied  it.  The  confession  to  its 
validity  is  constant  and  unanimous.  .  .  .  Whatever 
is  not  against  Scripture,  is  for  Scripture,  and  Scripture  is 
for  it."  ' 

But  upon  what  could  Luther  depend  in  this  crisis  at 
his  home,  when  Melanchthon,  the  man  upon  whom, 
above  all,  the  responsibility  rested,  commended  the 
agitator  Zwilling  as  one  "  who  preaches  so  purely 
and  plainly  and  spiritually,  that  you  cannot  find  one 
to  compare  with  him !  "  *  The  Elector's  command, 
however,  was  peremptory  that  he  should  not  stir 
from  the  Wartburg.  But  when  the  magistrates  of 
Wittenberg  and  the  congregation  presented  their 
appeal,  he  ventured  to  disobey.  On  the  evening 
of  March  3d,  two  Swiss  students,  on  their  way  to 
Wittenberg,  met  him  at  the  "  Black  Bear,"  in  Jena. 
He  was  sitting  alone  at  a  table,  in  a  knight's  dress, 
his  hand  upon  the  hilt  of  a  sword,  and  a  Hebrew 
Bible  before  him.  The  unknown  knight  was  pecu- 
liarly friendly,  paid  for  their  supper,  and  surprised 
them  by  his  learning.  Discussing  current  topics,  he 
assured  them  that  it  would  not  be  long  until  Luther 
would  be  again  in  Wittenbergi  When  the  landlord 
expressed  the  opinion  that  the  stranger  was  Luther, 

1  De  Wette,  2  :  124  sqq.  '  C.  Jf.,  i  :  542. 


The  Zwickau  Prophets  215 

he  was  not  credited.  They  ventured  to  ask  their 
companion  whether  he  were  not  Hutten,  and  re- 
ceived the  answer  that  he  was  not.  When  they 
bade  him  good-bye,  he  asked  them  to  call  upon  Dr. 
Schurf,  when  they  reached  Wittenberg,  and  to 
present  the  regards  of  the  "  one  who  is  coming." 
From  Borna  he  wrote  to  the  Elector,  explaining  his 
return,  and  assuring  Frederick  that  he  relied  upon  a 
Higher  Power  than  that  of  the  Saxon  court  for  his 
protection.  ' '  I  can  offer  Your  Highness  more  protec- 
tion than  Your  Highness  can  offer  me."  As  he  had 
to  pass  through  the  territory  of  Duke  George,  he 
declared  that  if  matters  at  Leipzig  were  in  the  same 
condition  as  at  Wittenberg,  he  would  make  straight 
for  Leipzig,  even  though  for  nine  days  it  would  rain 
Duke  Georges  nine  times  as  furious  as  the  one  who 
threatened  him.  All  that  the  Elector  could  do  was  to 
request  the  preparation  of  a  temperate  paper,  ex- 
plaining the  reasons  for  his  return,  which  would  be  in 
proper  form  for  presentation  to  the  Imperial  Council. 
Reaching  home  on  Thursday,  March  6,  1522,  the 
next  day  was  spent  upon  this  report,  and  Saturday 
among  his  friends,  in  order  to  learn  the  precise  state 
of  affairs.  When,  on  that  afternoon,  the  two  Swiss 
students  called  upon  Dr.  Schurf  to  communicate  the 
message  with  which  they  had  been  entrusted  by  the 
strange  knight  at  the  "  Black  Bear,"  they  were  sur- 
prised to  be  greeted  by  him  in  the  room  into  which 
they  were  ushered.  The  next  day,  being  the  First 
Sunday  in  Lent,  he  began  in  the  Parish  Church  a 
series  of  eight  sermons '  upon  the  crisis.  Although 

1  Erlangen,  28  :  202  sqq. 


216  Martin  Luther  [1483- 

the  provocation  could  scarcely  have  been  greater, 
neither  a  word  of  denunciation,  nor  the  least  refer- 
ence to  the  leaders  of  the  agitation,  escaped  his  lips. 
No  other  weapon  is  used  to  reclaim  his  erring  people 
than  a  clear  statement  of  the  Scriptural  teaching 
that  bears  upon  the  events.  "  By  the  Word  alone 
those  things  are  to  be  attacked  that  our  men  have 
been  attempting  to  abolish  by  violence."  Assum- 
ing that  the  congregation  has  laid  to  heart  the  fact 
that  they  are  sinners,  and  that  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
alone  is  their  salvation,  he  charges  them  with  lack- 
ing Christian  love  and  patience.  It  is  not  enough 
to  have  faith,  but  we  must  see  to  it  that  our  faith 
and  liberty  in  Christ  be  not  used  to  the  injury  of  our 
brethren.  If  alone,  I  can  wield  a  naked  sword  as  I 
please,  but  if  in  a  crowd,  I  must  beware,  lest,  by  my 
carelessness,  I  injure  others.  Much  that  had  oc- 
curred in  his  absence  he  approved,  but  regretted 
that  not  sufficient  consideration  had  been  had  for 
the  weak.  In  regard  even  to  those  matters  where 
God's  word  allows  no  freedom,  we  dare  not  attempt 
to  constrain  others  by  any  other  means  than  that  of 
the  preaching  of  this  same  Word.  We  must  say : 
"  Dear  sirs,  abandon  the  Mass.  Your  way  of  cele- 
brating it  is  not  right,  and  you  are  sinning  and 
provoking  God's  wrath."  But  if  you  cannot  con- 
vince them,  you  cannot  force  them  by  other  means. 
"  I  will  preach  and  talk  and  write  against  these 
things:  but  no  one  will  I  attempt  to  force."  "  The 
Word  that  has  created  the  heavens  and  the  earth 
must  do  this,  or  it  will  be  left  undone." 
These  sermons,  by  their  calm  presentation  of  the 


The  Zwickau  Prophets  217 

truth,  disarmed  all  opposition.  Melanchthon  was 
strengthened.  Zwilling  confessed  his  errors.  The 
Council  of  Wittenberg  presented  both  Luther  and 
his  father  with  substantial  testimonials  of  their  ap- 
preciation of  his  services.  Capito,  chaplain  of  the 
Archbishop  of  Mayence,  having  heard  of  the  two 
sermons,  was  converted  by  them  to  the  evangelical 
side.  The  Zwickau  agitators  were  absent  when 
Luther  appeared  upon  the  scene.  Stuebner,  some 
weeks  later,  sought  an  interview  with  Luther,  but 
obtained  it  with  great  difficulty.  In  the  presence 
of  Melanchthon,  Luther  administered  such  a  repri- 
mand that  Stuebner  left  Wittenberg  that  very  day. 
Storch  called  upon  Luther  in  the  autumn  of  the 
same  year.  Luther  writes  of  him  as  a  frivolous 
man,  who  seemed  to  have  but  one  idea,  viz.,  that 
of  the  abolition  of  infant  baptism. 


LUTHER  AND  MELANCHTHON. 


CHAPTER   II 

REBUILDING 

WITH  the  eight  sermons  preached  against  the 
Zwickau  prophets  in  Lent,  1522,  alluded 
to  above,  in  the  Parochial  Church  at  Witten- 
berg, Luther  resumed  his  position  as  regular 
preacher  during  the  continued  disablement  of  its 
pastor,  Brueck.  Under  Brueck's  successor,  Bugen- 
hagen,  his  services  in  the  same  capacity  were  fre- 
quent. According  to  the  principles  taught  in  the 
eight  sermons,  and  still  more  fully  elaborated  in  a 
pamphlet,  Of  the  Two  Forms  of  the  Sacrament*  he 
proceeded  to  restore  much  of  the  service  that  Carl- 
stadt  had  abolished.  While  Carlstadt  had  adminis- 
tered the  Lord's  Supper  without  requiring  any 
previous  preparation,  Luther  introduced  the  practice 
whereby  all  intending  to  commune  applied  pre- 
viously to  the  pastor,  in  order  that,  where  it  was 
desirable,  there  might  be  opportunity  for  instruction 

1  Erlangen,  28  :  285  sqq. 


DR.  JOHN  BUQENHAQEN. 

FROM  AN  ENGRAVING  BY  CRANACH,    1548. 


1524]  Rebuilding  219 

and  admonition.  The  communion  was  administered 
in  one  or  both  forms,  according  to  the  desire  of  the 
communicant.  From  the  liturgical  formularies  every 
reference  to  the  thought  of  a  sacrifice  in  the  Mass 
was  eliminated.  Daily  masses  were  no  longer  said. 
In  the  Castle  Church,  upon  the  door  of  which 
Luther  had  nailed  his  Theses,  the  innovations  of 
Carlstadt  had  found  no  entrance,  and  the  clergy  of 
the  Chapter  officiating  there  were  so  attached  to  the 
old  order,  that  the  Roman  Mass  was  retained  un- 
changed, until,  after  a  most  vigorous  struggle,  it  was 
abandoned  late  in  1524.  In  the  church  of  the  Clois- 
ter, however,  where  Luther  officiated  every  Sunday 
morning  at  early  service,  the  communion  was  always 
administered  in  both  forms.  The  diversity  in  the 
three  churches  of  Wittenberg  indicates  the  confusion 
prevalent  in  a  period  of  transition.  Desirable  as 
uniformity  might  be,  he  was  satisfied,  for  the  time, 
that  the  essentials  of  the  service,  viz.,  the  Words 
of  Institution,  were  retained. 

With  all  his  energy  he  now  devoted  himself,  with 
the  assistance  of  his  colleagues,  especially  Melanch- 
thon,  to  the  thorough  revision  of  his  translation 
of  the  New  Testament.  The  court  jewels,  through 
Spalatin's  intervention,  were  borrowed,  in  order  that 
a  better  conception  of  the  precious  stones  described 
in  the  Book  of  Revelation  might  be  formed.  The 
first  edition  appeared  in  September,  and  the  second 
in  December,  1522.  Introductions  to  each  book  of 
the  New  Testament  and  glosses  upon  many  passages 
accompanied  the  translation.  Among  the  intro- 
ductions is  the  famous  one  to  the  Epistle  to  the 


220  Martin  Luther  [i483- 

Romans,1  remarkable  not  only  for  its  eloquence  and 
vigour,  but  also  summarising,  within  a  few  pages, 
what  Luther  conceived  to  be  the  argument  not  only 
of  the  Epistle,  but  also  of  all  Scripture.  During 
this  summer  he  published  Melanchthon's  commen- 
tary on  Romans,  without  its  author's  consent,  or 
even  his  knowledge,  until  the  printed  volume  ap- 
peared upon  the  desk  of  the  astonished  professor. 

Into  the  details  of  his  visitation  of  the  churches, 
made  shortly  after  Easter,  we  cannot  enter,  except 
to  note  that  his  journey  through  Albertine  Saxony 
was  attended  with  no  inconsiderable  danger  because 
of  the  hostility  of  Duke  George ;  that  at  Zwickau  no 
less  than  25,000  people  streamed  together  from  all 
the  surrounding  country  to  see  him  and  to  hear  him 
preach,  and  that  of  his  four  sermons  there,  one  was 
preached  from  an  open  window  of  the  Rathhaus  to 
the  crowds  beneath.  Nor  can  we  more  than  men- 
tion his  important  services  at  Erfurt,  in  October, 
1522,  in  bringing  order  out  of  the  confusion  that 
there  prevailed. 

The  controversy  with  King  Henry  VIII.  of  Eng- 
land was  merely  an  episode  of  this  period,  without 
any  influence  upon  the  main  work  which  then  oc- 
cupied Luther.  The  vanity  of  the  King,  who  es- 
pecially boasted  of  his  attainments  in  scholastic 
theology,  eagerly  availed  itself  of  the  opportunity 
for  a  display  of  learning  in  a  reply  to  Luther's  book 
on  The  Babylonian  Captivity.  It  won  from  the 
Pope  the  title  of  "  Defender  of  the  Faith,"  and  the 
reward  of  an  indulgence  of  ten  years  to  every  one 

1  Erlangen,  63  :  119. 


1524]  Rebuilding  221 

of  its  readers.  Translated  into  German,  it  was  ex- 
tensively circulated  wherever  there  was  prospect  of 
injuring  thereby  Luther's  cause.  Even  previously, 
during  the  Diet  of  Worms,  Henry  had  written  to 
the  Emperor,  urging  the  punishment  of  Luther  and 
the  extirpation  of  the  "  Lutheran  pestilence,  poison, 
and  death,"  by  fire  and  sword.  The  question  with 
Luther  was  simply  whether  or  not  the  book  should 
be  answered.  If  it  was  to  be  answered,  he  had  to 
deal  not  with  the  King  of  England,  but  with  the 
scholastic  theologian  on  its  throne,  and  the  violent 
persecutor  of  God's  word.  When  Henry  directly 
called  Luther  "  a  devil,"  "  more  pernicious  than  all 
Turks,  Saracens,  and  unbelievers,"  he  abandoned 
all  claim  to  the  courtesies  due  his  royal  rank,  and 
issued  a  challenge  which  he  was  surprised  to  find  so 
promptly  accepted.  Never  was  king  so  scored  in  a 
polemical  treatise,  as  was  Henry  in  Luther's  answer, 
written  in  both  Latin  and  German,1  which  is  so 
severe  that,  even  to  the  present  day,  it  awakens 
sympathy  for  the  victim,  "  by  God's  disgust  King 
of  England,"  from  those  not  considering  the  ex- 
tremity of  the  provocation.  Henry's  appeal  to  the 
Elector  to  call  Luther  to  an  account  was  fruitless, 
since  the  Elector  only  held  out  the  hope  of  a  future 
general  council  as  the  remedy  for  all  ecclesiastical 
differences  and  wrongs. 

Another  incident  was  the  controversy  occasioned 
by  the  attempts  to  suppress  the  circulation  of 
Luther's  translation  of  the  New  Testament,  which 

1  Latin  in  Op.  var.  arg.t  vi.,  382  sqq. ;  German  in  Erlangen,  28: 
343  ffq. 


222  Martin  Luther  [i483- 

was  received  everywhere  as  the  most  popular  book 
of  the  day.  A  bitter  opponent,  Cochlaeus,  has 
recorded  his  testimony  concerning  the  manner  in 
which  even  shoemakers  and  women  became  ab- 
sorbed in  its  study,  so  as  to  be  able  in  a  short  time 
to  carry  on  discussions  with  doctors  of  theology. 
In  Bavaria,  Austria,  and  Mark  Brandenburg,  the 
strictest  measures  were  taken  to  exclude  it.  Duke 
George  not  only  under  severe  penalties  forbade  any 
one  to  have  it  in  his  possession  in  Albertine  Saxony, 
but  paid  the  price  for  all  copies  surrendered.  His 
chaplain,  Emser,  a  former  friend  of  Luther,  who 
had  before  this  time  written  against  him,  published, 
in  the  beginning  of  1523,  a  tract,  charging  Luther's 
translation  with  over  1400  errors,  which,  on  exam- 
ination, proved  to  be  chiefly  variations  from  the  in- 
accurate text  of  the  Latin  Vulgate.  Four  years 
later,  when  Emser  attempted  to  meet  the  demand 
for  a  German  New  Testament  by  an  approved 
Catholic  translation,  he  showed  his  critical  attain- 
ments by  the  simple  method  of  transcribing  Luther's 
translation,  with  such  changes  as  would  make  it 
conform  with  the  Vulgate.  To  serve  those  who 
were  under  perplexity  as  to  their  duty,  when  their 
copies  of  the  New  Testament  were  demanded, 
Luther  published,  at  the  very  beginning  of  1523,  a 
tract  on  How  Far  is  a  Christian  under  Obligation  to 
Obey  the  Magistrates  ?  '  This  is  a  discriminating  dis- 
cussion of  the  Scriptural  basis  for  civil  government. 
After  citing  the  positive  authority  of  Scripture  and 
arguing  for  the  perpetual  validity  of  Old  Testament 
1  Erlangen,  22  :  59  syy. 


1524]  Rebuilding  223 

testimonies,  he  shows  how  such  texts  as  Matt,  v., 
38,  39;  Rom.  xii.,  19;  i  Pet.  Hi.,  9,  have  been  mis- 
applied by  those  claiming  that  the  New  Testament 
has  either  annulled  all  civil  ordinances  or  absolved 
Christians  from  obedience.  Dividing  men  into  two 
classes,  Christians  and  unbelievers,  he  says  that  the 
former  belong  to  the  kingdom  of  Christ,  and  the 
latter  to  the  kingdom  of  the  world.  The  former,  so 
far  as  they  are  Christians,  need  no  worldly  sword  or 
laws,  but  are  governed  by  the  Holy  Spirit  dwelling 
within  them.  If  all  the  world  were  completely 
Christianised,  all  rulers  and  codes  of  laws  could  be 
abolished.  Good  trees  bear  apples  without  any 
books  of  instruction  to  guide  them.  Laws  must  be 
made  and  enforced,  because  of  those  who  are  not 
true  Christians  (i  Tim.  i.,  9),  just  as  wild  beasts 
must  be  kept  in  chains  and  cages.  True  Christians, 
however,  even  in  Christian  lands  are  rare.  The 
great  mass  is  composed  of  unbelievers.  To  abolish 
the  civil  government,  and  to  attempt  to  rule  an  en- 
tire country  simply  by  means  of  the  Gospel,  would 
be  as  though  a  shepherd  were  to  turn  lions  and 
wolves  into  the  same  stall  with  the  sheep,  and  bid 
them  live  in  harmony.  The  sheep,  of  course,  would 
keep  the  peace ;  but  how  long  would  they  remain 
unmolested  ?  Both  governments  must  therefore  be 
maintained ;  the  one  to  keep  the  outward  peace  and 
repress  the  lawless ;  the  other  to  promote  faith  and 
a  godly  life. 

But  the  civil  government  must  not  be  allowed  to 
assume  for  itself  what  belongs  to  the  spiritual. 
With  the  thought  of  the  soul,  or  the  faith  of  the 


224  Martin  Luther  [1483^ 

heart,  it  has  nothing  to  do.  No  one  can  believe  of 
disbelieve  for  me ;  neither  can  one  force  me  to  faith 
or  unbelief.  Faith  must  be  free,  or  there  is  no  faith. 
When  a  ruler  commands  one  to  adhere  to  the  Pope, 
or  to  believe  in  him,  answer  should  be  made  that  a 
cheerful  obedience  will  be  rendered  in  regard  to 
everything  that  properly  belongs  to  the  civil  ruler; 
but  that  in  regard  to  what  is  beyond,  the  demand  is 
an  act  of  tyranny.  If  such  ruler  should  require 
copies  of  the  New  Testament  to  be  surrendered, 
"  not  a  page,  not  even  a  letter,  dare  be  surrendered, 
or  the  soul's  salvation  will  be  imperilled.  .  .  . 
For  he  who  does  so,  surrenders  Christ  to  Herod." 
If,  however,  the  houses  be  searched,  and  copies  be 
found,  no  resistance  should  be  made  to  their  re- 
moval; "  only  such  service  should  not  be  aided  by 
the  moving  of  a  foot  or  the  lifting  of  a  finger." 

"  From  the  beginning  of  the  world,  a  prudent  ruler 
has  been  a  rare  bird  ;  much  rarer  still  is  one  that  is 
godly.  Ordinarily  they  are  the  greatest  fools  or  the 
worst  rascals  on  earth,  and  little  good  is  to  be  expected 
of  them,  especially  in  divine  things  which  concern  the 
soul's  salvation.  For  they  are  God's  jailers  and  hang- 
men, and  God's  wrath  uses  them  to  punish  the  wicked 
and  maintain  external  peace.  Our  God  is  a  great  Lord, 
and  He  must  have  hangmen  who  are  wealthy  and  noble 
and  of  exalted  lineage." 

In  conclusion  he  addresses  rulers  who  are  really 
Christians,  not  as  rulers,  but  as  Christians  called  to 
discharge  such  important  duties.  "  Cursed  is  every 
life,"  he  says,  "  that  is  occupied  only  with  its  own 


1524]  Rebuilding  225 

profit  and  enjoyment ;  cursed  is  every  work  that  Is 
not  prompted  by  love."  The  entire  paper  is  an 
illustration  of  the  character  of  Luther's  polemical 
writings.  However  severe  they  are,  their  chief  value 
lies  in  the  thorough  discussion  of  principles.  Mere 
denunciation  would  soon  have  expended  itself  and 
been  forgotten ;  the  carefully  matured  thought  that 
accompanies  it  renders  Luther's  pamphlets  upon  the 
living  questions  of  the  day  permanent  treasures. 

Such  controversies  were  merely  incidental.  He 
realised  that  his  most  important  work  was  the  com- 
pletion of  the  translation  of  the  Bible.  At  this  he 
laboured  so  incessantly  that  we  can  scarcely  under- 
stand how  time  was  found  for  other  literary  under- 
takings. Even  before  the  New  Testament  appeared 
from  the  press,  work  upon  the  Old  Testament  was 
begun.  It  received  a  fresh  impulse  by  the  warm 
reception  given  the  translation  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment. But  in  passing  from  the  one  part  of  his  work 
to  the  other,  he  experienced  peculiar  difficulties. 
Although  in  his  study  of  the  Psalms  he  had  for 
years  used  the  Hebrew,  he  candidly  acknowledged 
how  defective  his  knowledge  of  the  language  was, 
and  gladly  availed  himself  of  the  learning  of  Auro- 
gallus,  the  Professor  of  Hebrew  at  Wittenberg,  and 
of  Melanchthon.  Two  other  Wittenberg  teachers, 
Ziegler  and  Foerster,  were  soon  called  in  for  con- 
sultation, as  were  Bugenhagen  and  Roerer.  For  a 
time,  a  weekly  collegium  was  held,  beginning  a  few 
hours  before  supper,  in  which  the  various  texts  and 
translations  were  faithfully  compared.  Often  the 
work  was  most  tedious,  days  being  spent  upon  a 


226  Martin  Luther  [1483- 

few  lines,  Job  being  particularly  difficult,  and,  as 
he  said,  resisting  the  efforts  to  translate  his  language 
with  as  much  ill-nature  as  the  patriarch  received 
the  consolations  of  his  friends.  When  the  meaning 
of  a  passage  was  once  settled,  in  joint  discussion,  it 
became  the  work  of  Luther  to  find  for  it  an  idiom- 
atic rendering  that  would  make  it  intelligible  to 
the  plainest  people.1  In  spite  of  numerous  interrup- 
tions, the  Pentateuch  was  completed  within  three 
months  from  the  publication  of  the  New  Testament, 
and  appeared  at  the  beginning  of  the  next  year.  In 
1524,  two  parts  of  the  work  were  published,  the 
former  comprising  the  Historical  Books,  and  the 
latter,  Job,  the  Psalms,  and  the  so-called  writings 
of  Solomon.  Other  important  engagements  fre- 
quently intervening  delayed  the  completion  of  the 
canonical  books  until  1532,  and  of  the  Apocrypha 
until  1534,  when  the  first  edition  of  the  complete 
translation  was  published. 

The  thorough  reformation  of  the  worship  of  the 
Church  could  not  be  longer  delayed.  The  arrange- 
ments made  on  Luther's  return  from  the  Wartburg 
were  understood  to  be  provisional.  As  time  passed, 
the  hopes  of  any  reform  by  the  bishops  vanished. 
The  people  were  well  instructed  by  Luther's  con- 
stant preaching  and  writings;  and  hence  the  plea 
of  accommodation  to  the  weak  had  lost  much  of  its 
force.  With  the  New  Testament  and  the  Psalms 
translated  and  in  the  hands  of  the  people,  the  next 
thing  was  to  provide  for  their  use  by  the  congrega- 

1  See  letter  of  September  8,  1530,  Erlangen,  65  :  102  sqq.,  for  full 
statement  of  the  plan  pursued. 


1524]  Rebuilding  227 

tion.  The  demand  for  a  change  came  not  only  from 
Wittenberg,  but  from  other  places  also,  where,  while 
the  faith  of  the  Reformation  had  been  accepted,  all 
the  provisions  for  public  worship  were  unsatisfactory. 
The  necessity  was  also  urgent  for  new  regulations  in 
the  congregational  organisation,  which  would  pro- 
vide for  the  support  of  the  clergy,  since  the  saying 
of  masses  and  other  current  modes  of  income  were 
no  longer  legitimate ;  and  for  the  election  of  pastors 
by  the  congregations  without  the  interference  of 
outside  ecclesiastics. 

About  Easter,  1523,  he  accordingly  prepared  such 
regulations  for  the  congregation  at  Leisnig  in  Sax- 
ony, as  well  as  a  paper  concerning  Public  Worship.1 
A  new  Order  for  the  daily  services  was  introduced 
into  the  Parochial  Church  at  Wittenberg,  which 
heretofore  had  been  closed  during  week-days,  ex- 
cept when  demanded  by  some  particular  occasion. 
Daily  morning  services  were  introduced  with  the 
understanding  that  similar  services  were  to  be  after- 
wards provided  for  in  the  evening.  They  were  of 
the  most  simple  character,  consisting  of  a  Scripture 
lesson  (from  the  New  Testament  in  the  morning, 
and  from  the  Old  Testament  in  the  evening),  an  ex- 
position of  the  lesson  read,  and  an  intercessory 
prayer.  For  boys  in  school  and  all  others  who 
could  be  profited  by  them,  he  advises  the  continu- 
ance of  the  daily  Matins  and  Vespers,  since  they 
consist  almost  entirely  of  selections  from  the  Script- 
ures. The  Sunday  services,  as  the  times  for  the 
worship  of  the  entire  congregation,  have  a  higher 

1  Kichter,  i.,  10  sqq.  ;  Erlangen,  22  :  105  sgg. 


228  Martin  Luther  [1483^ 

value  attached  to  them.  Here,  again,  the  ordinary 
chants  and  collects  are  to  be  retained,  since  they  are 
generally  of  a  Scriptural  character. 

The  baptismal  formulary,  hitherto  used  only  in 
Latin,  was  translated  by  Luther  into  German,  with 
some  abbreviations,  additions,  and  amendments,  in 
order  that  the  people  might  understand  what  this 
sacrament  actually  meant.  This  was  followed  in 
December  by  the  Formula  Misses,  or  "  Order  for  the 
full  Morning  or  Communion  Service,"  '  dedicated  to 
his  friend  Nicholas  Hausmann,  pastor  at  Zwickau, 
to  whom  the  confusion  wrought  by  the  presence  of 
the  fanatics  rendered  such  an  order  especially  serv- 
iceable. After  warning  against  the  spirit  that  is 
constantly  attempting  innovations,  he  lays  down  the 
principle  that  everything  in  the  ancient  service  not 
contrary  to  the  Word  of  God  is  to  be  retained.  Each 
part  of  the  Roman  Mass  is  then  critically  examined, 
with  the  result  that  an  evangelical  Order,  upon  clear 
historical  foundations,  is  approved.  Its  several 
members  are  the  Introit,  Kyrie,  Gloria  in  Excelsis, 
Collects,  the  received  Gospels  and  Epistles  for  the 
day,  the  Hallelujah,  the  Nicene  Creed,  and  the  full 
Communion  Service  for  every  Sunday.  The  sermon 
is  an  indispensable  factor,  but  much  difficulty  is  ac- 
knowledged concerning  its  place  in  the  Service. 
Luther  is  most  careful  to  vindicate  the  claims  of 
Christian  freedom,  and  to  declare  that  unity  in  the 
faith  is  far  more  important  than  uniformity  of  out- 
ward organisation.  This  became  the  foundation  of 
the  numerous  Lutheran  Orders,  some  prepared  with 

1  Erlangen,  22 :  151  sqq. ;  Richter.  i.,  2  sqq. 


1524]  Rebuilding  229 

his  direct  co-operation,  and  others  by  Bugenhagen 
(who  was  particularly  active  within  this  sphere,  in 
Pomerania,  Northern  Germany,  and  Denmark),  Me- 
lanchthon,  Jonas,  Brentz,  Osiander,  Veit  Dietrich, 
and  other  of  his  associates,  who  were  appointed  to 
discharge  such  duties  by  various  countries  and 
provinces. 

His  next  aim  was,  instead  of  mere  listeners,  to 
make  the  people  active  participants,  with  heart  and 
voice,  in  all  the  various  parts  of  the  service.  This 
he  accomplished  partly  by  introducing  popular 
hymns,  mainly  translations  of  psalms  and  chants 
sung  hitherto  by  the  choir.  Justus  Jonas  and  Paul 
Speratus  aided  in  the  work,  but  the  chief  hand  in  it 
was  that  of  Luther  himself.  Of  his  thirty-six 
hymns,  twenty-four  are  traced  to  the  years  1523  and 
1524.  A  popular  ballad  on  the  burning  of  the  two 
Lutheran  martyrs  of  the  Netherlands,  Henry  Voes 
and  John  von  Esch,  July  I,  1523,  called  forth  his 
first  efforts  as  a  poet.  Several  verses  of  this  have 
been  reproduced  in  the  English  lines,  "  Flung  to 
the  heedless  winds,"  etc.  Seven  of  his  hymns  are 
adaptations  of  the  Psalms,  in  which  he  unfolds  the 
New  Testament  thought  implied,  but  not  expressed, 
in  the  Old  Testament  language.  Several  other 
passages  of  Scripture  (Is.  vi.,  1-4;  Luke  ii.,  13,  14, 
29-32)  were  made  the  basis  of  hymns.  Twelve 
ancient  Latin  hymns  and  chants  were  freely  ren- 
dered into  German,  adaptations  of  several  older 
German  hymns  made,  and  five  are  entirely  original 
with  Luther.  They  have  all  the  popularity  and 
spirit  and  devotional  unction  of  his  translation  of 


230  Martin  Luther  [1483- 

the  Bible,  during  the  progress  of  which  the  most  of 
them  were  composed.  How  deeply  they  soon  be- 
came rooted  in  the  minds  and  hearts  of  the  people, 
and  how  powerful  the  impression  they  produced, 
when  sung  to  melodies  hitherto  used  for  secular 
songs,  are  illustrated  by  the  manner  in  which  the 
attempt  of  the  opponents  of  Luther  to  preach 
against  his  doctrines  was  met  on  two  occasions.  At 
Brunswick,  in  1527,  a  plain  citizen,  at  the  close  of  a 
sermon  by  Dr.  Sprengel  of  Magdeburg,  started  Ach 
Gott  vom  Himmel  sieh  darein,  which  was  at  once 
sung  by  the  entire  congregation  to  the  complete  dis- 
comfiture of  the  preacher.  Two  years  later,  there 
was  a  similar  occurrence  at  Luebeck,  where  two 
boys  started  the  same  hymn. 

"  With  frauds  which  they  themselves  invent 

Thy  truth  they  have  confounded  : 
Their  hearts  are  not  with  one  consent 

On  Thy  pure  doctrine  grounded  : 
And,  while  they  gleam  with  outward  show, 
They  lead  Thy  people  to  and  fro, 

In  error's  maze  astounded. 

"  God  surely  will  uproot  all  those 

With  vain  deceits  who  store  us, 
With  haughty  tongue  who  God  oppose, 

And  say  :  '  Who  '11  stand  before  us  ? 
By  right  or  might  we  will  prevail : 
What  we  determine  cannot  fail. 

For  who  can  lord  it  o'er  us  ? ' 

"  *  For  this,'  saith  God,  '  I  will  arise. 

These  wolves  My  sheep  are  rending ; 
I  've  heard  My  people's  bitter  sighs 
To  heaven,  My  throne,  ascending : 


FRANZ  VON  SICKINQEN. 


1524]  Rebuilding  231 

Now  I  will  up,  and  set  at  rest 
Each  weary  soul  by  fraud  opprest, 
The  poor  with  might  defending.'  "' 

The  first  evangelical  Hymn-Book,  published  in 
1524,  contains  only  eight  hymns,  of  which  four  are 
Luther's.  Another  book  of  the  same  year,  the 
Erfurt  Enchiridion,  has  twenty-five,  eighteen  of 
them  by  Luther;  and  still  another,  the  Geistliches 
Gesangbuch,  for  the  use  of  schoolboys  as  choristers, 
thirty-two,  of  which  twenty-four  are  Luther's.  His 
greatest  hymn,  Ein  feste  Burg  ist  unser  Gott,  with 
its  inspiring  tune,  also  of  his  composition,  which 
ranks  as  a  musical  classic,  was  long  believed  to  have 
been  written  about  the  time  of  the  Diet  of  Spires, 
in  1529,  but  is  now  referred  to  1527.  It  is  called  by 
Heine  "  the  Marseillaise  of  the  Reformation." 

"  A  Fortress  firm,  a  Shield,  a  Sword, 

A  Help  in  all  distresses, 
A  Refuge  strong  is  God  the  Lord, 
However  danger  presses. 
The  enemy,  I  know, 
Maddened,  with  rage  doth  glow. 
Boundless  the  power  and  art, 
Back  of  each  cruel  dart. 
Earth  never  had  his  equal. 

"  Sure  were  the  field  left  to  my  might, 

All  would  be  pure  disaster  ; 
But  I  've  a  Comrade  in  this  fight, 
Who  any  foe  can  master. 

If  you  should  ask  His  name, 
It  is  the  very  same 
Before  which  angels  kneel. 
And  at  which  devils  quail, 
Jesus,  true  God  and  Conqueror. 

1  Translation  of  Frances  Elizabeth  Cox. 


232  Martin  Luther  [1483- 

"  Then  let  Hell's  hosts  flood  all  the  land, 

With  myriads  trained  to  end  me  ; 
Why  should  I  fear  to  make  a  stand, 
When  such  brave  arms  defend  me  ? 
One  moment — and  't  is  done. 
The  victory  is  won  ; 
The  Mighty  Prince  is  found, 
Judged,  prostrate  on  the  ground  ; 
The  smallest  word  can  fell  him. 

"  Ah,  then,  the  Word  you  '11  let  remain, 

A  generous  foeman  surely  ! 
While  Christ 's  with  me  upon  the  plain. 
My  heart  shall  rest  securely. 

Come,  take  whate'er  you  see, 
There  is  no  loss  to  me, 
His  Spirit  makes  me  strong, 
His  gifts  call  forth  my  song, 
His  kingdom 's  mine  forever.  " ' 

The  hymn,  Nun  freut  euch  lieben  Christen  getnein, 
is  a  condensed  statement  of  Luther's  Christian  ex- 
perience, and  the  plan  of  salvation,  which  became  a 
great  favourite,  because  it  spake  the  language  of 
many  hearts.  Hesshusius  says :  "  Through  this  one 
hymn  of  Luther's  many  hundreds  of  Christians  have 
been  brought  to  the  true  faith,  who  before  could 
not  endure  the  name  of  Luther." 

His  Christmas  hymn,  never  to  be  separated  from 
the  tune  which  he  composed  for  it,  is  known  by 
almost  every  German  child. 

"  Good  news  from  heaven  the  angels  bring, 
Glad  tidings  to  the  earth  they  sing : 
To  us  this  day  a  child  is  given, 
To  crown  us  with  the  joy  of  heaven. 
....•• 

1  Translation  by  H.  E.  J.  (1886). 


1524]  Rebuilding  233 

"  AH  hail,  Thou  noble  Guest,  this  morn, 
Whose  love  did  not  the  sinner  scorn  ! 
In  my  distress  Thou  cam'st  to  me : 
What  thanks  shall  I  return  to  Thee  ? 

"  Were  earth  a  thousand  times  as  fair, 
Beset  with  gold  and  jewels  rare, 
She  yet  were  far  too  poor  to  be 
A  narrow  cradle,  Lord,  for  Thee. 

"  Ah,  dearest  Jesus,  Holy  Child  ! 
Make  Thee  a  bed,  soft,  undefiled, 
Within  my  heart,  that  it  may  be 
A  quiet  chamber  kept  for  Thee. 

"  Praise  God  upon  His  heavenly  throne. 
Who  gave  to  us  His  only  Son : 
For  this  His  hosts,  on  joyful  wing, 
A  blest  New  Year  of  mercy  sing."  ' 

He  directed  attention  also  to  the  importance  of 
the  schools,  in  a  treatise  addressed  to  the  mayors 
and  aldermen  of  the  cities  of  Germany,8  which  was 
translated  into  Latin  by  Melanchthon  immediately 
after  its  publication.  The  schools,  in  order  to  be 
worthy  of  support,  he  says,  must  be  thoroughly 
Christian  both  in  teaching  and  in  spirit.  Nothing 
can  be  clearer  than  the  duty  of  parents  to  give  their 
children  the  best  education  attainable.  Parents  who 
excuse  themselves  upon  the  plea  that  they  will  teach 
their  children  at  home,  as  a  rule,  make  a  great 
blunder,  since  this  important  work  requires  a  class 
of  teachers  who  have  special  gifts  and  training  for 
the  work,  and  even  where  parents  have  exceptional 
abilities,  their  regular  employments  make  the  educa- 
tion of  their  children  only  a  side  matter.  He  tries 

1  Translation   by   Arthur   Tozer  Russell   and   Miss  Winkworth, 
abridged,  cf.  Schafl's  Christ  in  Song,  p.  55.        *  /£.,  82  :  168  sqgf 


234  Martin  Luther  [1524 

to  raise  the  standard  of  popular  education  by  insist- 
ing upon  the  study  of  the  classical  languages  as  in- 
dispensable, not  only  for  the  preservation  of  the 
knowledge  of  God's  Word,  but  also  for  all  good 
citizenship  and  respectable  culture.  He  would  have 
the  children  taught  also  history,  music,  both  vocal 
and  instrumental,  and  a  complete  course  of  mathe- 
matics. The  learning  of  a  trade,  he  thinks,  could 
be  readily  combined  with  such  schooling,  by  devot- 
ing to  the  school  an  hour  or  two  in  every  day,  and 
giving  the  rest  of  the  day  to  manual  labour.  Much 
of  the  time  spent  in  ball-playing,  he  suggests,  could 
be  used  in  physical  labour  pertaining  to  the  future 
calling.  The  girls,  as  well  as  the  boys,  should  have 
these  advantages,  dividing  their  time  between  as- 
sisting at  home  with  the  housework,  and  spending 
an  hour  or  two  a  day  at  school.  He  calls  attention 
to  the  importance  of  public  libraries.  Lamenting 
the  short-sightedness  of  the  Germans  in  this  respect, 
he  declares  that,  while  the  Greeks  and  Romans,  and 
even  the  Hebrews,  had  taken  the  greatest  care  to 
commit  everything  memorable  to  writing,  the  Ger- 
mans had  neglected  to  record  their  heroic  deeds  and 
wise  maxims,  and,  on  this  account,  had  not  the 
reputation  among  foreign  nations  that  was  their  due. 
Luther's  relation  to  the  entire  Public-School  System 
is  thus  most  intimate;  since  it  was  largely  in  re- 
sponse to  this  appeal  that  new  life  and  the  most 
thorough  reforms  were  introduced  into  the  schools 
of  Germany.  Nothing  is  more  foreign  to  Luther's 
mind  than  the  idea  that  a  liberal  education  is  to  be 
encouraged  within  the  Church  only  as  a  preparation 
for  theological  training. 


LUTHER  AS  TEACHER. 

CHAPTER   III 

THE   LINES  DRAWN 

WHEN  the  ceaseless  activity  of  Luther,  and 
the  courageous  manner  in  which  he  con- 
tinued to  reiterate  his  doctrines  and  to  criticise,  in 
the  severest  terms,  the  Papacy,  are  considered,  the 
question  as  to  why  the  Edict  of  Worms  was  not  en- 
forced against  him  very  naturally  arises.  The  burn- 
ing of  a  few  of  his  books  and  of  some  copies  of  the 
New  Testament,  and  the  prohibition  of  their  posses- 
sion and  circulation,  were  impotent  barriers  against 
the  spread  of  his  writings,  as  they  came  forth,  with 
astonishing  rapidity,  from  the  press,  and  found 
everywhere  purchasers  and  readers.  His  effective 
measures,  on  his  return  from  the  Wartburg,  in 
checking  the  fanatical  movement,  had  shown  that 
he  was  no  radical,  and  that  the  cause  of  the  rulers 
was  safer  in  his  presence  than  in  his  absence.  Many 
influential  persons  in  the  government  felt  the  power 
of  his  arguments,  and  of  his  conservative  and  dis- 
criminative treatment  of  the  great  issues  of  the 

235 


236  Martin  Luther  [1483- 

hour.  Even  the  sister  of  the  Emperor,  Isabella, 
Queen  of  Denmark,  was  ultimately  won  to  his  side. 

A  change  had  occurred  in  the  Papacy.  Leo  X. 
had  died,  December  I,  1521,  and  had  been  suc- 
ceeded by  Adrian  VI.,  for  thirty  years  a  professor 
of  theology  at  Louvain,  an  Inquisitor-General  in 
Spain,  and  a  former  tutor  of  Charles  V.  He  was  a 
man  of  irreproachable  character  and  of  moral  ear- 
nestness, whose  antagonism  to  Luther  was  due  more 
to  Luther's  attacks  upon  the  scholastic  theology 
than  to  his  denial  of  the  authority  of  the  Pope,  or 
his  assertion  of  the  necessity  of  reform.  Unex- 
pectedly called  to  the  papal  chair,  without  any 
scheming  on  his  part,  this  Dutch  Pope  sought  to 
deprive  the  Reformation  of  its  weapons  by  rigid 
ascetic  practices  for  himself  and  by  seeking  to  re- 
form abuses  in  the  outward  life  at  Rome. 

Encouraged  by  the  absence  of  the  Emperor  and 
the  dissensions  in  ecclesiastical  matters  among  the 
Electoral  princes,  Franz  von  Sickingen  had  raised 
the  standard  of  open  revolt,  and  in  August,  1522, 
had  attacked  the  territory  of  the  Elector  and  Arch- 
bishop of  Treves,  under  the  pretext,  among  others, 
of  asserting  the  claims  of  religious  liberty.  The 
evangelical  princes  were  not  deceived  by  this  plea, 
but  forgetting  all  religious  differences,  rallied  as  one 
man  to  the  support  of  the  Archbishop.  The  revolt 
came  to  a  disastrous  termination  with  the  speedy 
defeat  of  Sickingen,  the  capture  of  himself  and  all 
his  possessions,  the  burning  of  the  most  of  his 
castles,  and  his  own  death  from  a  wound  received  in 
battle.  In  the  beginning,  before  his  plans  were  ap- 


1525]  The  Lines  Drawn  237 

parent,  Luther  had  not  repulsed  the  approaches  of 
Sickingen,  and  had  even  dedicated  to  him  a  book 
written  at  the  Wartburg,  and  familiarly  corre- 
sponded with  his  kinsman  and  confederate,  Hart- 
muth  von  Kronberg.  But  from  the  moment  that 
he  unsheathed  his  sword,  he  lost  Luther's  sympathy. 
Long  before  the  collapse  of  the  rebellion,  Melanch- 
thon  wrote  of  the  great  injury  that  Sickingen  was 
doing  the  cause  of  Luther,  and  declared  the  purpose 
of  the  knights  to  be  only  robbery. 

It  was  while  such  events  were  transpiring  that  the 
Imperial  Diet  assembled  at  Nuremberg  at  the  close 
of  1522.  In  anticipation  of  the  presence  of  the 
Elector,  the  Pope  sent  him,  by  a  special  messenger, 
an  earnest  letter,  admonishing  him  of  his  responsi- 
bility and  duty.  Chieregati  appeared  as  the  Pope's 
legate,  bringing  a  communication  asking  for  aid 
against  the  Turks  and  Luther,  and  the  prompt 
and  rigorous  execution  of  the  Edict  of  Worms. 
Another  communication  to  Ferdinand  asked  for 
the  imprisonment  of  the  preachers  of  the  churches 
of  St.  Sebald  and  St.  Lawrence,  and  the  Augustin- 
ians  at  Nuremberg,  who  preached  and  held  services 
according  to  the  evangelical  order,  as  well  as  of  all 
monks  who  had  abandoned  the  monasteries.  As  a 
concession  to  the  prevalent  dissatisfaction,  he  made 
the  most  candid  acknowledgments  concerning  the 
deterioration  of  the  Papacy,  and  declared  that  it 
was  no  wonder  that  the  disease  had  spread  from  the 
head  to  the  members. 

The  members  of  the  Diet  answered  that,  in  view  of 
the  condition  of  things  acknowledged  by  the  Pope, 


238  Martin  Luther 

any  procedure  against  Luther  would  be  extremely 
impolitic.  As  he  had  been  the  instrument  of  calling 
attention  to  these  acknowledged  abuses,  any  such 
action  would  be  interpreted  as  a  tyrannical  effort  to 
suppress  the  Gospel.  The  evangelical  preachers  at 
Nuremberg,  even  the  fiery  Osiander,  were  unmo- 
lested in  the  free  exercise  of  their  office.  The  Diet 
recommended  the  convening  of  a  general  council 
upon  German  territory  within  a  year,  and  that  the 
Elector  of  Saxony  be  asked  to  prevent  Luther 
meantime  from  issuing  any  further  publications. 
No  additional  punishment  was  to  be  inflicted  upon 
monks  deserting  their  monasteries  than  the  loss  of 
all  monastic  rights  and  income. 

The  Pope's  letter  to  the  Diet  Luther  translated 
into  German,  and  published  with  notes  and  a  sup- 
plement. With  regard  to  the  prohibition  to  publish, 
he  declared  that  he  could  not  be  silent  as  long  as 
his  opponents  continued  in  their  publications  to 
misrepresent  the  Gospel.  The  Pope  wrote  a  second 
letter  to  the  Elector,  threatening  him  with  both  the 
temporal  and  the  spiritual  sword,  unless  he  heeded 
the  papal  injunction. 

Adrian's  career  was  short.  He  died  September 
24,  1523,  carrying  with  him  to  his  grave  the  reputa- 
tion of  a  good  priest,  but  a  poor  pope,  despised  by 
the  Italians  because  of  his  birth  in  the  Netherlands, 
and  by  the  Germans  as  an  unsophisticated  and 
pedantic  representative  of  Scholasticism.  His  best 
qualities  were  out  of  place  at  Rome,  while  his  weak- 
nesses were  conspicuous  in  his  efforts  to  master  the 
storm  in  Germany. 


1525]  The  Lines  Drawn  239 

Clement  VII.,  a  cousin  of  Leo  X.,  elected  after  a 
protracted  contest  Adrian's  successor,  sent,  as  his  le- 
gate, to  the  Second  Diet  of  Nuremberg,  in  January, 
1524,  Cardinal  Campeggi,  who  was  made  to  feel  that 
he  was  on  uncongenial  soil.  Not  only  was  there  a 
significant  absence  of  the  honours  that  ordinarily 
greeted  so  high  a  dignitary,  but  he  met  everywhere 
the  most  marked  indications  of  the  general  popular 
hostility. 

From  the  pulpit  of  the  Church  of  St.  Lawrence 
Osiander  inveighed  against  the  "  Papal  Antichrist." 
Thousands  received  the  communion  in  both  forms 
at  the  Easter  season.  Among  them  were  thirty  or 
forty  of  Ferdinand's  retinue;  and,  most  mortifying 
and  significant  of  all  to  the  friends  of  the  Pope, 
the  sister  of  the  Emperor  and  Ferdinand,  Isabella, 
Queen  of  Denmark,  was  one  of  the  number.  All 
the  Emperor's  entreaties  for  the  execution  of  the 
Edict  of  Worms  were  seen  to  be  useless.  Another 
request  for  a  general  council,  a  preparatory  confer- 
ence of  German  princes  and  estates,  to  be  held  at 
Spires  on  November  nth,  and  the  promise  to  con- 
form to  the  decrees  of  Worms,  with  the  significant 
qualification  "  as  far  as  possible,"  manifested  again 
the  spirit  of  compromise  that  endeavoured  to  keep 
the  peace  by  an  insincere  combination  of  contradic- 
tories. A  vain  expedient !  The  Emperor,  the  Pope, 
and  Luther  were  for  once  united.  Luther  promptly 
exposed  the  imbecility  of  the  edict  by  publishing  it 
together  with  that  of  Worms,  under  the  title :  Two 
Imperial  Contradictory  Demands  concerning  Luther  * 

1  Erlangen,  24  :  2IO  sqq. 


240  Martin  Luther  [1483- 

He  shows  how  the  Diet  of  Nuremberg  at  once  en- 
dorsed the  Edict  of  Worms  condemning  him,  and  at 
the  same  time  provided  for  a  general  council  in 
which  an  impartial  hearing  of  his  case  was  promised. 
He  calls  them  a  beautiful  set  of  men  to  war  against  the 
Turks,  since  the  Turks  are  ten  times  as  godly  as  they 
are !  The  Pope  pronounced  the  edict  an  insult  to  him- 
self as  well  as  to  the  Emperor.  The  Emperor  wrote 
a  caustic  letter,  in  which  he  denounced  the  Diet  of 
Nuremberg  as  an  infringement  upon  his  prerogatives. 

The  result  was  the  assembling  at  Regensburg 
(Ratisbon),  in  June,  1524,  under  the  presidency  of 
the  papal  legate,  of  the  princes  whose  loyalty  to 
the  Roman  pontiff  was  unquestioned.  The  Arch- 
duke Ferdinand,  the  two  dukes  of  Bavaria,  the 
Archbishop  of  Salzburg,  and  a  large  number  of 
bishops  of  Southern  Germany,  bound  themselves 
together  to  procure  the  energetic  execution  of  the 
Edict  of  Worms.  Thus  the  Roman  party  took  the 
initiative  in  rending  the  political  unity  of  Germany 
into  two  divisions,  according  as  the  Roman  Catholic 
or  the  Lutheran  faith  prevailed. 

Between  the  two  sides  the  lines  were  now  sharply 
drawn.  The  time  for  decision  had  come.  The 
mere  formulation  of  such  compromises  as  those  of 
Nuremberg  was  sufficient  to  exhibit  the  inherent 
weakness  of  the  entire  spirit  of  which  it  was  an  ex- 
pression. The  Elector,  to  whom  the  Reformation 
owed  so  much,  had  joyfully  accepted  the  clearer 
statement  of  evangelical  doctrine  which  it  had  pre- 
sented, and,  with  great  courage,  protected  Luther 
and  his  associates  in  their  rights  as  private  Christians 


1525]  The  Lines  Drawn  241 

and  public  teachers;  nevertheless,  he  had  studiously 
avoided  the  position  of  a  partisan.  Strange  to  say, 
the  Elector  and  Luther  had  never  met !  Only  twice 
in  his  life  did  Luther  see  Frederick,  and  then  at  a 
distance.  The  Elector's  constant  plea  was  for  toler- 
ation ;  theological  questions,  he  urged,  as  a  layman, 
he  should  be  excused  from  deciding.  It  could  not 
be  expected  that  he  would  apprehend  rapidly  the 
full  consequences  of  the  evangelical  position ;  as  late 
as  1522,  he  was  still  collecting  relics  for  his  Castle 
Church,  and,  in  1524,  favoured  the  retention  of  the 
ceremonies  of  the  Mass.  Luther  moved  too  rapidly 
and  acted  too  radically  for  his  mild  and  conciliatory, 
although  firm  and  decisive  spirit.  Spalatin,  his 
private  secretary  and  chaplain,  and  Luther's  inti- 
mate friend,  was  the  medium  through  whom  the 
two  conferred.  But  it  was  only  by  Luther's  urgent 
intervention  that  near  the  close  of  his  life,  Spalatin 
was  induced  to  remain  in  a  position  in  which  he  ap- 
prehended that  he  was  losing  influence.  The  result 
showed  that  Luther's  judgment  was  correct.  At 
Easter,  1525,  Frederick  had  the  German  Mass  in- 
troduced at  his  residence  at  Lochau,  and,  on  his 
death-bed,  a  few  weeks  later,  received  the  holy 
communion  in  both  forms,  and  without  extreme 
unction.  The  funeral  services  were  arranged  with 
Luther's  advice,  and  two  sermons  were  preached  by 
him  on  successive  days,  in  which  he  paid  the  most 
touching  tributes  to  his  discreet  and  peace-loving 
ruler.  In  his  brother  John,  who  succeeded  to  the 
electorate,  the  Reformation  found  a  friend,  who  had 
already  been  prominent  as  a  public  champion. 

16 


24 2  Martin  Luther  [i483- 

While  the  Ernestine  branch  of  the  House  of 
Saxony  was  thus  committed  to  Luther's  cause,  the 
hostility  of  the  Albertine  branch  was  increased  by 
an  uncomplimentary  reference  to  Duke  George,  of 
whom  Luther  had  spoken  in  a  letter  to  Hartmuth 
von  Kronberg  as  "  a  mere  bubble  on  the  water," 
and  which  he  declined  to  retract.  Everywhere  the 
movement  was  spreading.  If  the  zeal  of  the  Augus- 
tinians,  whose  convents  formed  centres  of  influence 
for  the  diffusion  of  Luther's  doctrines,  be  urged  as 
indicating  that  the  Reformation  originated  in  the 
rivalry  of  the  religious  orders,  the  active  participa- 
tion of  members  of  other  orders,  of  which  we  have 
already  noted  examples,  refutes  the  charge.  Never- 
theless, the  agency  of  the  Augustinians  was  a  power- 
ful factor.  The  support  of  enthusiastic  students 
going  forth  in  large  numbers  from  Wittenberg,  and 
the  incessant  stream  of  publications  from  his  pen, 
were  still  more  important  elements.  No  attempt 
had  been  made  at  organised  propagandism ;  Luther 
relied  upon  the  inherent  power  of  the  Word. 

In  the  Netherlands,  Jacob  Spreng,  commonly 
called  Probst,  the  prior  of  the  Augustinians  at  Ant- 
werp, and  Henry  Moeller  of  Zuetphen,  as  early  as 
1 5 19  were  pronounced  adherents  of  Luther.  Both 
studied  at  Wittenberg,  the  latter  subsequently 
marrying  one  of  Luther's  near  relatives.  The 
doctors  of  the  University  of  Louvain  having  ap- 
pealed in  1519  to  Margaret,  the  Emperor's  sister, 
during  her  regency,  with  the  complaint  that  Luther's 
writings  were  subverting  all  Christianity,  she  is  re- 
ported to  have  asked:  "And  who  is  Luther?" 


1525]  The  Lines  Drawn  243 

"  An  unlearned  man,"  they  answered.  "  Well, 
then,"  she  replied,  "  I  think  there  are  enough  of 
you  to  take  care  of  him,  since  one  unlearned  man 
cannot  be  a  match  for  the  many  learned  men  arrayed 
against  him  !  "  In  1521  persecutions  began.  Probst 
wavered  in  the  face  of  danger,  and  recanted;  but 
soon  regained  confidence,  and,  recalling  his  recant- 
ation, laboured  at  Bremen.  In  1522,  a  special  com- 
missioner was  appointed  to  search  for  Luther's 
writings.  On  July  I,  1523,  the  first  two  martyrs  of 
the  Lutheran  faith,  Henry  Voes  and  John  von  Esch, 
were  burned  at  Brussels,  chanting  the  Te  Deum  re- 
sponsively  in  the  midst  of  the  flames.  Henry  von 
Zuetphen,  delivered  from  prison  by  a  popular  up- 
rising in  1522,  became  a  martyr  December  n,  1524. 
Other  martyrs  were  a  bookseller  of  Pesth,  burned 
with  Luther's  books  which  he  had  on  sale,  and 
Caspar  Tauber,  of  Vienna,  who  was  beheaded. 

Early  in  1524,  the  rulers  of  Mecklenburg,  without 
openly  declaring  their  acceptance  of  the  evangelical 
cause,  wrote  to  Luther  for  evangelists,  whom  he 
promptly  sent.  Count  Albrecht  of  Mansfeld  and  the 
Landgrave  Philip  of  Hesse,  although  the  latter  was 
a  son-in-law  of  Duke  George,  openly  declared  their 
allegiance  to  the  Reformation.  The  Margrave  Al- 
brecht of  Brandenburg,  the  Grand  Master  of  the  in- 
fluential order  of  Teutonic  Knights  ruling  Prussia, 
under  the  influence  of  Osiander's  preaching,  during 
his  attendance  upon  the  Diet  of  Nuremberg,  was 
won  to  the  evangelical  faith,  and  applied  to  Luther 
for  advice  in  the  reformation  of  his  order.  In  this 
he  was  supported  by  the  knights  and  two  of  the 


244  Martin  Luther  [1483- 

Prussian  bishops,  George  von  Polenz  of  Samland, 
and  Erhard  von  Queiss  of  Pomerania.  Dr.  John 
Briesmann,  Paul  Speratus,  and  John  Poliander, 
having  been  sent  to  Prussia,  became  the  evangelists 
of  that  country.  The  abolition  of  celibacy  among 
the  knights  virtually  abolishing  the  order,  and  the 
form  of  government  being  changed,  Albrecht  became 
Duke  of  Prussia,  and  formally  introduced  the  Re- 
formation. In  many  of  the  larger  cities  of  Germany, 
the  sympathies  of  the  highest  classes  of  society  were 
enlisted  on  its  behalf.  Prominent  among  these  was 
Nuremberg,  where  Luther's  friend,  Wenceslaus 
Link,  was  preacher  in  the  Augustinian  monastery, 
and  Lawrence  Spengler  was  one  of  the  most  influen- 
tial councillors,  and  Osiander  was  pastor.  Here  the 
popular  poet,  Hans  Sachs,  especially  in  his  Witten- 
berger  Nachtigall,  devoted  his  extraordinary  genius 
to  the  advancement  of  the  cause  in  which  Luther  had 
enlisted,  while  Albrecht  Durer,  one  of  Germany's 
greatest  painters,  belonged  to  the  inner  circle  of  its 
adherents.  To  Magdeburg  Amsdorf  was  called  as 
pastor  in  1524,  and  Cruciger  became  the  rector  of 
the  High  School.  In  Strassburg,  Zell,  Bucer,  and 
Capito  were  labouring  in  the  same  spirit  as  early  as 
1523;  while  that  same  )^ear  the  activity  of  John 
Brenz  was  already  making  itself  felt,  and  he  soon 
had  earnest  co-labourers  in  Erhard  Schnepf  at 
Wimpfen,  and  Michael  Stiefel  at  Esslingen.  At 
Augsburg  the  Lord's  Supper  was  administered  in 
both  forms  in  1524  by  Luther's  friends,  Frosch  and 
Urban  Regius. 

Henry  of  Zuetphen  preached  the  evangelical  faith 


MAKTINVS 


BVCCER, 


BVCCER-  HAT  •  V 1EL'  GUTEJV-  VN<  GLEKT] 
ENGELANT-  HAT-  EP.-  MCH  •  BEKERT 
DAR  1ST-  BEGR ABE- NACH   SE.IM  -  E  NOT 
AVCH  -  W1DR-  AVF3R  AB£N  -  VN  -  VEFBRENT 
ABER  DIE.'  KONGIN  •  LOBESAN  - 
H  AT  DT  E  •  ASCH  •  EHR  LJCH  -JB  S  TATTEN  •  LAN 


DR.  MARTIN  BUCER. 


1525]  The  Lines  Drawn  245 

in  1522  at  Bremen,  where  his  colleague  and  country, 
man,  Probst,  became  pastor  two  years  later.  About 
the  same  time,  Bugenhagen  was  called  to  Hamburg 
to  introduce  the  Reformation;  in  Breslau  the  work 
advanced  under  the  labours  of  John  Hess,  while  in 
Riga,  Reval,  and  Dorpat  there  were  evangelical 
preachers  in  1521,  and  to  the  evangelical  Christians 
in  these  places  Luther  sent,  in  1523,  a  summary  of 
Christian  doctrine,  and  in  the  next  year  an  exposi- 
tion of  Psalm  CXXVII.,  with  a  plan  for  the  organisa- 
tion of  schools. 

In  Sweden,  the  efforts  of  Luther's  pupils,  the 
brothers  Petersen,  beginning  in  1519,  were  approved 
by  Gustavus  Vasa  on  his  accession  in  1523.  Christ- 
ian II.  of  Denmark,  nephew  of  the  Elector  Fred- 
erick, eagerly  sought  for  support  from  the  teachings 
of  Luther  in  his  struggles  with  the  Danish  clergy. 
Expelled  from  his  country,  his  personal  intercourse 
with  Luther  during  a  protracted  stay  at  Witten- 
berg rendered  him  still  more  favourable,  while  his 
wife,  the  sister  of  the  Emperor,  openly  announced 
her  conversion  to  Lutheranism.  But  when  the  test 
came,  Christian  denied  before  the  Emperor  all 
sympathy  with  Luther.  Meanwhile,  however,  the 
Reformation  was  introduced  into  Denmark  by  his 
successor,  King  Frederick. 

The  interest  which  Luther  had  manifested  in  the 
Bohemians  ever  since  the  Leipzig  Disputation, 
found  expression  in  his  effort  at  this  time  to  pro- 
mote their  entire  independence  of  the  Papacy.  The 
Utraquists,  or  Calixtine  Bohemians,  insisting  upon 
the  administration  of  the  Lord's  Supper  in  both 


246  Martin  Luther  [1483- 

forms,  but  in  other  respects  agreeing  with  the 
Roman  Catholics,  and  regarding  ordination  by  one 
in  the  regular  succession  of  bishops  an  essential, 
had  been  compelled,  since  the  Pope  would  not  con- 
cede them  bishops  of  their  own,  to  send  their  can- 
didates to  Italy  for  ordination.  Learning  in  1522 
of  a  possible  reconciliation  between  them  and  the 
Papacy,  he  wrote  them  a  letter  urging  them  to  sur- 
render neither  the  communion  in  both  forms,  nor 
the  memory  of  their  martyrs,  Hus  and  Jerome  of 
Prague.  The  next  year  one  of  their  clergy,  Gallus 
Cahera,  spent  several  months  in  Wittenberg,  and 
persuaded  Luther  to  write  a  paper  to  the  Council  of 
the  city  of  Prague,  showing  how  the  Christian  min- 
istry arises  from  the  needs  of  the  Christian  congrega- 
tions, and  requires  no  external  authority,  whether 
from  Rome  or  elsewhere.  In  his  simplicity  he  was 
used  by  Cahera  only  to  advance  the  latter's  ambi- 
tious projects,  which,  in  1524,  were  repudiated  by 
his  countrymen.  More  success  was  anticipated  from 
his  negotiations  with  another  party  of  the  Bohe- 
mians, the  Bohemian  Brethren,  or  Hussites,  with 
whom,  through  Speratus,  he  came  into  nearer  rela- 
tions. He  wrote  a  treatise  criticising  their  view  of 
the  Lord's  Supper,  and  directing  their  attention  to 
the  legalistic  spirit  which  characterised  their  other- 
wise estimable  Christian  life ;  while  they  replied  by 
intimating  that  too  much  stress  was  placed  by 
Lutherans  upon  the  importance  of  learning. 

The  difference  between  Luther  and  Erasmus  came 
into  prominence  in  their  renowned  controversy  con- 
cerning the  freedom  of  the  will.  The  distinguished 


i525]  The  Lines  Drawn  247 

services  of  Erasmus  in  reviving  interest  in  classical 
studies  and  insisting  upon  the  importance  of  ac- 
quaintance with  the  original  languages  of  the  Holy 
Scriptures,  as  well  as  in  his  critical  editions  of  the 
New  Testament,  and  his  protests  against  the  abuses 
of  monasticism,  were  always  duly  recognised  by 
Luther.  By  the  intervention  of  Melanchthon  and 
Carlstadt,  attempts  had  been  made  at  an  earlier 
period  to  bring  them  into  nearer  relations.  There 
was  an  occasional  interchange  of  letters,  but  as  their 
protests  against  current  abuses  sprang  from  different 
sources,  and  their  interests  were  very  diverse,  any 
co-operation  was  impossible.  Luther  had  been 
forced  into  his  position  by  his  deep  religious  experi- 
ence, culminating  in  the  assurance  of  faith  and  the 
necessity  of  positive  testimony  to  what  he  believed 
to  be  truth,  without  regard  to  the  effect  of  that 
testimony  upon  his  personal  safety,  or  the  external 
relations,  whether  his  own  or  those  of  any  party  for 
which  he  was  supposed  to  stand.  Erasmus  was 
without  this  experience,  and  wrote  only  as  a  culti- 
vated critic,  who  could  expose  errors,  but  was  with- 
out the  call  and  without  the  courage  to  propose  any 
scheme  of  improvement.  He  boasted  of  his  love 
for  peace  as  even  surpassing  his  love  for  truth, 
looked  with  disfavour  upon  Luther's  plainness  and 
bluntness  and  carelessness  of  results,  and  was  be- 
trayed into  constant  inconsistencies  by  his  attempts 
to  retain  favour  and  avoid  ruptures.  In  1523  Luther 
wrote  of  him  to  (Ecolampadius : 

"  Erasmus  has  fulfilled  the  mission  to  which  he  was 
called.     He  has  introduced  the  classical  languages  and 


248  Martin  Luther  [i483- 

withdrawn  us  from  godless  studies.  Possibly,  he  will 
die  with  Moses  in  the  wilderness  of  Moab  ;  for  he  does 
not  lead  to  the  better  studies,  that  advance  godliness. 
I  wish  only  he  would  stop  commenting  on  Holy  Scripture 
and  writing  paraphrases — a  work  to  which  he  is  not 
equal." ' 

To  a  scholar  of  the  temperament  of  Erasmus,  the 
situation  was  most  embarrassing.  He  wished  to 
offend  neither  side ;  and  yet  the  time  came  when  an 
attack  upon  Luther  was  the  price  demanded  for  a 
continuance  of  the  favour  of  those  with  whom  he 
had  been  acting.  Two  Popes,  Leo  and  Adrian, 
urged  him  to  the  undertaking.  Luther  also  sought, 
by  private  correspondence  in  1524,  to  dissuade  him 
from  becoming  the  open  advocate  of  those  abuses 
which  he  had  so  severely  arraigned.  But  the  press- 
ure from  the  other  side  was  too  strong,  especially 
since  Henry  VIII.,  from  whom  he  had  a  pension, 
vigorously  demanded  his  interference.  With  great 
adroitness,  Erasmus  chose  for  his  attack  a  topic 
which  would  not  compel  him  to  treat  of  any  of  those 
matters  upon  which  he  had  already  given  clear  testi- 
mony against  the  Papacy.  The  complete  helpless- 
ness of  man's  will  in  regaining  God's  favour  Erasmus 
had  never  learned,  and  hence  from  a  purely  philo- 
sophical standpoint  he  found  abundant  arguments 
against  Luther's  assertion  of  the  complete  sove- 
reignty of  divine  grace.  With  characteristic  nega- 
tive tendency,  he  goes  no  further  than  a  mere 
criticism  of  Luther,  without  presenting  any  clear 

1  De  Wette,  2  :  352  sg. 


1525]  The  Lines  Drawn  249 

and  definite  statement  on  the  other  side.  Although 
part  of  the  book  had  been  submitted  to  Henry 
VIII.  and  George  of  Saxony  in  1523,  it  was  not 
published  until  September,  1524. 

Luther  made  no  haste  in  replying.  Up  to  the 
succeeding  November,  he  had  read  only  two  pages, 
and  his  disgust  was  such  that,  except  for  the  urgent 
intercession  of  others,  he  would  have  left  it  unan- 
swered. In  his  reply  of  December,  1525,  concern- 
ing The  Servitude  of  the  Will,1  he  emphasises  the 
necessity  of  certainty  of  faith,  and  maintains  that, 
from  first  to  last,  man's  salvation  is  due  solely  to 
divine  grace.  By  nature  a  bondsman  of  Satan, 
man  can  be  delivered  by  no  native  power.  The 
human  will  is  like  a  horse,  upon  which  either  Satan 
or  God  sits,  directing  it  whither  he  will.  The  tone 
of  the  book  is  most  respectful  towards  his  opponent, 
to  whom  he  gives  some  most  graceful  compliments 
for  valuable  services  rendered  the  truth  in  other 
directions.  In  its  clear  statements  as  to  the  free- 
dom of  the  will  in  external  things,  and  its  denial  of 
the  irresistibility  of  the  divine  grace  that  converts 
man,  as  well  as  in  its  teaching  that  it  is  not  by 
God's  will  that  man  sins  and  is  lost,  it  is  far  removed 
from  fatalistic  error.  But  it  cannot  be  denied  that 
not  all  of  its  teachings  are  entirely  consistent  in  this 
respect.  In  the  endeavour  to  affirm,  with  the 
greatest  emphasis,  that  when  man  is  saved  he  owes 
everything  to  divine  grace,  statements  are  made 
that  succeeding  theologians  have  found  it  necessary 
to  qualify.  The  overpowering  influence  of  Augus- 

1  Op.  var.  arg.,  vii.,  113  sqq. 


250  Martin  Luther  [i525 

tine  determined  probably  more  than  one  passage, 
where  in  the  haste  of  composition  he  reiterates  the 
phrases  of  his  master  concerning  matters  that  he  has 
not  as  yet  thoroughly  solved  in  his  own  mind.  In 
this  treatise,  Luther  attempts  to  meet  Erasmus  en 
a  philosophical  rather  than  a  theological  basis. 


JOHN  FREDERICK  OF  SAXONY. 


CHAPTER   IV 
THE  PEASANTS'  WAR 

IN  the  midst  of  this  controversy  one  of  far  wider 
interest  was  claiming  attention.     Between  Carl- 
stadt,   Muenzer,  and  the  Peasants'  War  there  is  a 
close  connection.     They  stand  for  different  stages 
of  revolutionary  fanaticism. 

The  influence  of  Carlstadt  at  Wittenberg  had 
been  thoroughly  broken  by  Luther's  return  from 
the  Wartburg.  Sullenly  he  acquiesced  in  the  order 
established,  and  continued  his  lectures  in  the  Uni- 
versity, with  noticeable  lack  of  interest  in  his  work, 
though  receiving  from  his  colleagues  every  mark  of 
consideration.  Having  depreciated  the  importance 
of  theological  science,  he  was  in  a  false  position  as 
professor  of  theology.  His  pen  was  busy  with  the 
preparation  of  books  of  a  mystical  type,  inculcating 
the  necessity  of  the  union  of  the  soul  with  God,  and 
depreciating  the  importance  of  the  knowledge  of 
the  letter  of  Scripture.  Renouncing  the  title  of 

251 


252  Martin  Luther 

"  Doctor,"  he  assumed  that  of  "  a  new  layman," 
bought  a  small  farm  near  Wittenberg,  where  he  was 
known  by  the  peasants  as  "  Neighbour  Andrew," 
still,  however,  relying  for  support  largely  upon  the 
irregular  lectures  he  gave  in  the  University.  Un- 
comfortable in  this  division  of  occupations,  he 
assumed,  in  September,  1523,  a  pastorate  at  Orla- 
muende,  near  Jena,  the  revenues  of  which  belonged 
to  his  Wittenberg  professorship,  and  which  had 
been  served  heretofore  by  vicars.  Here  he  had 
opportunity  to  carry  out  all  his  projects  of  reform. 
From  the  church  the  altar  and  pictures  were  re- 
moved, infant  baptism  was  discontinued,  and  the 
communion  was  administered  without  confession. 
The  same  innovations  were  introduced  into  the 
neighbouring  village  of  Kahla.  In  sympathy  with 
Muenzer,  and  enforcing  his  statements  by  continual 
appeals  to  the  Old  Testament,  he  taught  that  all 
idolatry,  like  crimes  against  the  government,  should 
be  punished  by  the  sword.  The  Jewish  Sabbath 
laws  were  asserted  in  all  their  rigour;  polygamy 
was  sanctioned;  and  for  the  Words  of  Institution  of 
the  Lord's  Supper  the  ingenious  explanation  was 
found,  that,  when  Christ  uttered  them,  He  pointed 
to  His  Body,  as  He  extended  the  bread,  and  said: 
This  is  My  Body."  The  basis  of  his  entire  posi- 
tion was  that  of  the  permanence  of  the  civil  regula- 
tions and  social  ordinances  of  the  Old  Testament, 
which  Jacob  Strauss  of  Eisenach  had  applied  in 
another  direction,  when  he  urged  that  the  payment 
of  interest  on  loans  was  a  sin.  At  Jena,  where  he 
had  won  to  his  cause  a  pastor,  Martin  Reinhard,  he 


1525]  The  Peasants'  War  253 

established  a  press  for  the  publication  of  his  writings, 
thus  escaping  the  censorship  at  Wittenberg.  All 
the  while  drawing  the  income  of  his  professorship, 
the  University  at  last  asserted  its  rights,  and  he  re- 
turned in  June,  1524.  Luther  now  hoped  that  he 
had  been  cured  of  his  eccentricities,  but  was  disap- 
pointed by  his  complete  severance  from  Wittenberg, 
and  his  return  to  Orlamuende  at  the  call  of  the 
council  and  congregation.  His  writings  met  with 
much  popular  favour;  his  favourite  thoughts,  and 
even  the  peculiar  form  in  which  he  clothed  them, 
were  readily  caught  up  and  repeated. 

Meanwhile  Thomas  Muenzer,  pastor  at  Allstedt, 
was  manifesting  a  revolutionary  course  so  radical 
that  even  Carlstadt,  notwithstanding  his  sympathy, 
could  not  openly  approve  of  it.  In  July,  1524,  be- 
fore Duke  John  of  Saxony  and  his  son,  John  Fred- 
erick, he  preached  that  the  godless  have  no  right  to 
live,  but  should  be  exterminated,  and  charged  the 
apostles  with  weakness,  because  of  their  tolerance 
of  the  idolatry  of  the  heathen.  All  the  elect,  he 
taught,  have  a  truly  prophetic  spirit  and  super- 
natural revelations.  In  June,  1524,  a  chapel  at 
Malderbach,  containing  a  renowned  image  of  the 
Virgin  and  many  costly  memorials,  was  burned  by 
a  mob,  which  his  harangues  had  excited  to  violence. 
Constant  threats  were  made  against  the  rulers,  and 
prejudices  against  evangelical  preachers  diffused.  A 
secret  league  for  radical  communistic  purposes  was 
formed,  and  extended  far  and  wide  by  overzealous 
propagandists,  with  the  pledge  to  put  to  death  any 
ruler  who  opposed  them.  As  long  as  they  confined 


254  Martin  Luther  [i433- 

their  efforts  to  the  proclamation  of  their  theories, 
Luther  declared  that  no  other  weapon  than  the 
preaching  of  the  Word  should  be  used  against  them ; 
but  where  they  meant  violence,  he  advised  the 
Elector  and  Duke  John  to  promptly  employ  all 
the  power  of  the  government  to  suppress  them. 
Summoned  before  Duke  John,  at  Weimar,  the  evi- 
dence against  Muenzer  was  overwhelming;  but  he 
was  dismissed  upon  his  promise  to  appear  on  the 
coming  of  the  Elector.  Before  Frederick's  arrival 
he  had  broken  his  promise  and  secretly  departed. 
Compelled  to  leave  Allstedt,  he  went  to  Muehlhausen 
in  Thuringia,  where  he  had  been  preceded  by  an 
adherent,  the  former  Cistercian  monk,  Henry  Pfeif- 
fer.  When  the  council  of  that  place  had  received  a 
very  emphatic  letter  of  advice  from  Luther,  he  was 
ordered  to  leave,  and  wandered  for  some  weeks  in 
Southwestern  Germany  and  neighbouring  Switzer- 
land, exciting  at  all  points  the  spirit  of  insurrection. 
In  Nuremberg  he  won  to  his  cause  John  Denck,  the 
rector  of  St.  Sebald's  School,  who  soon  became 
known  as  an  opponent  of  the  doctrines  of  the  Trin- 
ity and  of  the  divinity  of  Christ.  While  tarrying 
there,  Muenzer  wrote  a  scurrilous  attack  upon 
Luther.  The  events  that  followed  his  return  to 
Muehlhausen,  in  December,  1524,  will  be  recounted 
later. 

The  situation  was  deemed  sufficiently  alarming  to 
demand  Luther's  intervention  in  the  places  of  the 
greatest  agitation.  The  council  and  congregation 
at  Orlamuende  offered  the  opportunity  by  their  in- 
vitation, which  was  probably  intended  as  a  challenge. 


The  Peasants'  War  255 

On  August  22d  he  preached  at  Jena  against  "  the 
Allstedtian  spirit  and  its  fruits."  Carlstadt  was 
present,  and,  although  not  mentioned,  he  felt  him- 
self included  in  the  attack.  While  Luther  was  at 
table  at  the"  Black  Bear,"  Carlstadt  approached, 
and,  with  much  excitement,  stated  his  grievances. 
The  result  of  the  unpleasant  interview,  which  took 
place  in  the  presence  of  many  of  the  guests,  was 
that  Luther  urged  Carlstadt  to  attack  him  publicly, 
and  presented  him  with  a  gold  florin  as  a  token  that 
he  desired  him  to  publish  all  that  he  had  to  say 
against  him.  Preaching  the  next  day  at  Kahla,  the 
fragments  of  a  broken  crucifix  lying  about  the  pulpit 
moved  his  indignation,  although  he  refrained  from 
expressing  it.  Arriving  at  Orlamuende,  he  declined 
to  preach,  but  when  the  congregation  had  assembled, 
took  up  the  letter  which  it  had  addressed  him,  and 
commented  upon  it,  sentence  by  sentence,  giving 
his  reasons  for  his  warnings  against  Carlstadt.  In 
the  midst  of  his  remarks  Carlstadt  entered.  Luther 
protested  against  his  presence  as  that  of  a  personal 
enemy,  to  whom  he  had  given  a  florin  for  a  written 
attack,  and  declared  that  he  would  himself  leave,  if 
Carlstadt  would  not  retire.  After  his  departure,  a 
shoemaker,  who  had  been  an  apt  pupil  of  Carlstadt, 
argued  with  Luther  that  the  Old  Testament  strictly 
prohibited  the  making  of  pictures  and  images,  and 
not  merely  their  worship.  The  interview  was  fruit- 
less. Carlstadt  eagerly  sought  for  a  public  disputa- 
tion with  Luther,  who  saw  that,  for  lack  of  any 
prospect  of  convincing  him  or  those  whom  he  had 
misled,  argument  was  useless.  Banished,  like 


256  Martin  Luther  [r483^ 

Muenzer,  he  went  to  Southern  Germany.  He  made 
Rothenburg  on  the  Tauber,  near  Nuremberg,  his 
chief  abode,  but  also  spent  considerable  time  at 
Strassburg,  Basel,  and  Heidelberg.  His  intensely 
practical  tendency  and  his  very  extravagances  made 
his  writings  popular,  while  the  obstacles  which 
Luther  attempted  to  place  in  the  way  of  the  revo- 
lutionary movement  alienated  from  the  latter  many 
who  had  hitherto  regarded  him  as  the  embodiment 
of  the  German  national  and  popular  spirit.  At 
Strassburg,  Carlstadt  avoided  the  evangelical  preach- 
ers, Bucer  and  Capito,  and  conferred  secretly  with 
the  laity  wherever  there  was  an  opportunity  for  ex- 
citing suspicion  against  Luther;  and,  after  leaving, 
industriously  circulated  his  writings  where  he  had 
prepared  the  field  for  the  seeds  of  dissension.  In 
response  to  an  appeal  from  the  Strassburg  pastors, 
accompanied  by  a  statement  of  their  attitude  to 
Carlstadt,  and  an  outline  of  the  Order  of  Service  in 
the  public  worship,1  Luther  shows  that  the  great 
error  of  Carlstadt  lay  in  his  regarding  attention  to 
mere  external  matters,  such  as  the  absence  of  im- 
ages and  pictures,  as  pertaining  to  the  essentials  of 
Christianity.  Concerning  the  Lord's  Supper,  he 
assures  them  that  if  Carlstadt  or  any  one  else  could 
have  proved  to  him  five  years  before  that  nothing 
but  bread  and  wine  were  present,  he  would  have  been 
inexpressibly  grateful,  since  this  would  have  been 
a  powerful  argument  against  the  Papacy ;  but  so  over- 
whelming is  the  testimony  of  Holy  Scripture  that 
he  had  been  deterred  from  such  a  position.  Another 

1  De  Wette,  2  :   574  sqq. 


i525]  The  Peasants'  War  257 

error  of  Carlstadt  that  he  noted  was  that  he  preached 
Christ  only  as  the  model  of  a  holy  life,  and  nothing 
more.  A  comprehensive  discussion  of  the  entire 
controversy  is  found  in  his  treatise,  Against  the 
Heavenly  Prophets.1  It  ranks  with  the  treatises  on 
The  Babylonian  Captivity  and  The  Freedom  of  a 
Christian,  among  the  most  important  of  Luther's 
writings.  The  second  part  is  devoted  to  the  re- 
futation of  Carlstadt's  view  of  the  Lord's  Supper, 
in  connection  with  which  he  presents  his  own  doc- 
trine in  almost  its  complete  form.  Particularly 
noteworthy  is  his  illustration  concerning  the  word 
"  this,"  in  the  Words  of  Institution,  which  he  com- 
pares to  those  of  a  mother,  who  points  to  a  cradle 
and  says,  "  This  is  my  child,"  without  imagining 
that  anyone  could  understand  her  to  mean  that  the 
cradle  had  been  converted  into  her  child. 

His  generosity  was  shown  in  his  readiness  to  in- 
tercede for  Carlstadt  and  the  endeavour  to  secure  for 
him  a  safe-conduct  to  Wittenberg,  when  there  were 
intimations  that  the  latter,  under  the  severe  punish- 
ment of  his  banishment,  had  repented  and  desired  a 
reconciliation.  But  when  his  intercessions  were 
fruitless,  two  bitter  attacks  showed  that  Carlstadt 
had  not  actually  changed.  Once  more,  when  at  the 
close  of  the  Peasants'  War  Carlstadt  was  in  danger  of 
being  arrested  and  condemned  as  an  accomplice, 
Luther  interceded,  and  secured  permission  for  his 
residence  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Wittenberg. 
There,  in  February,  1526,  Luther  baptised  a  child 
of  Carlstadt's  in  the  latter's  home,  Jonas,  Melanch- 

1  Erlangen,  29  :   134  sqq. 


258  Martin  Luther  [i483- 

thon,  and  Luther's  wife  standing  as  sponsors! 
Luther  writes :  "Who  would  have  thought  of  this  last 
year !  "  l  But  Carlstadt  could  not  rest,  and  after  three 
years  removed,  to  become,  first,  preacher  in  Zurich, 
and  then  professor  at  Basel,  where  he  died  in  1541. 

Luther's  prophecy  of  the  bitter  fruits  that  would 
be  borne  by  the  fanaticism  of  Muenzer  was  fulfilled 
when  the  atrocities  of  the  Peasants'  War,  after  some 
premonitory  outbreaks,  came  upon  the  country  in 
all  their  horror  in  1525.  The  victims  of  crushing 
oppression,  restless  for  generations  under  the  yoke 
of  serfdom,  the  peasants  long  before  the  Reforma- 
tion had  broken  forth  into  occasional  local  revolts. 
The  insurrection  of  1491  in  the  Netherlands,  Wuer- 
temburg,  and  Alsace  had  left  a  permanent  memo- 
rial in  the  extensively  diffused  alliance  called,  on 
account  of  the  shoe  adopted  as  its  badge,  the 
Bundschuh.  With  the  imposition  of  new  burdens 
the  new  life  that  was  penetrating  all  classes  of 
society,  and  the  literature  that  was  stimulating  even 
the  humblest,  awakened  their  ambition,  and  made 
them  peculiarly  restive.  The  successful  revolt 
against  spiritual  tyranny  by  the  Reformers  en- 
couraged them  with  hopes  of  success  for  a  similar 
movement  in  the  temporal  sphere.  For  the  misin- 
terpretation of  his  teachings  and  their  misapplication 
against  his  uniform  protests,  Luther  was  not  respon- 
sible. The  liberty  that  Luther  taught  demanded 
the  complete  subjection  of  man's  will  and  heart  to 
God's  word  and  God's  appointed  order.  From 
Muehlhausen,  Muenzer  and  Pfeiffer  scattered  in- 

1  De  Wette,  3  :  94. 


i525]  The  Peasants'  War  259 

cendiary  publications  traducing  Luther,  as  well  as 
undermining  the  civil  authorities,  and  sowing  every- 
where the  seed  of  revolt.  The  movement  was 
wide-spread.  It  was  particularly  strong  where  the 
most  vigorous  efforts  had  been  made  to  suppress  the 
evangelical  teaching.  The  peasants  of  Southwestern 
Germany  embodied  their  demands  in  "  Twelve 
Articles."  '  Moderate  in  tone  and  abounding  in 
Scriptural  phrases,  these  articles  seemingly  placed 
spiritual  interests  in  the  foreground,  although  this 
is  found  to  be  only  the  introduction  to  purely  secu- 
lar matters.  The  first  of  the  articles  asks  that  every 
Christian  congregation  have  the  right  to  elect  and 
remove  its  own  pastor,  and  that  the  tithes,  hereto- 
fore appropriated  by  the  government,  be  devoted  to 
the  support  of  the  ministry  and  the  assistance  of  the 
needy.  In  the  other  articles,  the  abolition  of  serf- 
dom, freedom  to  hunt  and  fish,  the  right  to  cut 
wood  in  the  forests,  the  alleviation  of  the  exactions 
of  masters  from  servants  and  of  landlords  from  ten- 
ants, are  demanded.  Other  voices  were  not  so 
moderate,  but  clamoured  for  revolution.  No  houses 
but  such  as  were  good  enough  for  peasants  should 
be  tolerated.  The  existing  rulers  should  abdicate, 
and  give  place  to  those  to  be  chosen  by  the  people 
or  their  representatives.  The  monks  and  the  nobles 
were  especial  objects  of  hostility.  Plunder  and  pil- 
lage became  constantly  more  common.  In  Franconia 
alone,  two  hundred  cloisters  and  castles  were  de- 


1  Erlangen,  24  :  257  sqq.;  English  translation  in  Translations  and 
Reprints  published  by  the  Department  of  History  of  the  University  of 
Pennsylvania,  vol.  ii.,  No.  6,  Philadelphia,  1895. 


26o  Martin  Luther  [i483- 

molished,  and  murders  were  of  frequent  occurrence. 
At  the  storming  of  Weinsberg,  near  Stuttgart,  acts 
of  extreme  oppression  had  infuriated  the  peasants, 
so  that  all  the  nobility  captured  were  slain,  and  the 
leader,  the  Count  of  Helfenstein,  was  put  to  death 
in  a  peculiarly  atrocious  manner  before  the  eyes  of 
his  wife,  a  daughter  of  the  Emperor  Maximilian. 
The  Elector  Palatinate  appealed  to  Melanchthon  for 
a  decision  concerning  the  "  Twelve  Articles,"  and 
received  an  answer  justifying  in  all  things  the  rulers 
and  condemning  the  peasants.  In  answer  to  an  ap- 
peal from  the  peasants,  Luther,  in  An  Admonition 
to  Peace,1  passed  a  more  discriminating  judgment, 
sharply  arraigning  the  nobility  for  their  oppression, 
and  pleading  for  a  mitigation  of  the  burdens  under 
which  the  peasants  were  suffering,  but  also  con- 
demning the  peasants  in  no  mild  terms  for  taking 
the  law  into  their  own  hands.  In  very  brief  terms 
he  answers  the  demands  of  the  "  Twelve  Articles." 
The  right  of  a  congregation  to  elect  its  own  pastor 
he  regards  as  absolute,  when  it  provides  entirely 
for  his  support,  but  when  the  support  comes  in 
whole  or  in  part  from  other  sources,  he  declares  it 
dishonest  for  a  congregation  to  make  such  claim. 
Since  the  tithes  also  belong  to  the  rulers,  the  pro- 
posal to  devote  them  to  church  purposes  he  pro- 
nounces as  another  suggestion  of  robbery.  Serfdom 
he  does  not  consider  inconsistent  with  Christianity. 
All  other  matters  contained  in  the  articles  he  leaves 
to  the  jurists.  For  the  adjustment  of  the  difficulties, 
he  proposes  a  plan  of  arbitration. 

1  Erlangen,  24  :  257  sqq. 


i525]  The  Peasants'  War  261 

In  the  moment  when  the  peril  was  most  imminent, 
Luther  hastened  to  Eisleben,  and,  passing  through 
districts  rilled  with  insurgents,  sought  by  every 
means  in  his  power  to  persuade  them  to  peace. 
His  words  were  unheeded.  It  seemed  to  him  that 
the  more  he  admonished,  the  more  violent  they  be- 
came. Nothing  was  to  be  done,  he  was  convinced, 
but  for  the  rulers  to  enforce  the  law  against  them. 
In  a  paper  on  The  Peasant  Robbers  and  Murderers,1 
he  declared  that  the  rebellious  peasants  deserved 
death,  both  in  body  and  soul ;  not  only  because  of 
their  perjury  in  breaking  their  oaths  of  allegiance, 
and  of  their  acts  of  violence,  but  also  because  they 
made  the  Gospel  an  excuse  for  their  crimes.  He 
calls  upon  all  to  flee  from  them,  as  from  the  very 
devil,  and  calls  upon  the  rulers  to  put  away  all 
scruples  about  inflicting  the  death  penalty  upon  the 
obstinate. 

The  offers  of  arbitration  proposed  by  the  interven- 
tion of  the  Count  of  Mansfeld  having  been  rejected 
by  the  peasants,  who  were  influenced  by  the  advice 
of  Muenzer,  the  Landgrave  of  Hesse  and  Dukes 
George  and  John  of  Saxony  completely  overcame 
them  in  the  bloody  battle  of  Frankenhausen,  where 
five  thousand  perished  on  the  field,  May  15,  1525. 
Muenzer  and  Pfeiffer  were  taken  prisoners  and  ex- 
ecuted on  the  spot.  While  Duke  John  and  the 
Landgrave  Philip  treated  their  prisoners  with  le- 
niency, terrible  was  the  vengeance  inflicted  by  others. 
Similar  calamities  befell  the  peasant  cause  in  other 
parts  of  Germany.  At  the  castle  of  Zobera  in 

1  Erlangen,  24  :  287  sqq. 


262  Martin  Luther  [i525 

Alsace,  eighteen  thousand  of  them  fell.  Over  one 
hundred  thousand  are  believed  to  have  perished. 
The  desolation  in  some  portions  of  the  country  was 
indescribable.  So  completely  were  they  crushed, 
and  so  much  more  miserable  was  their  condition  than 
it  had  previously  been,  that  much  sympathy  was 
awakened,  especially  in  the  cities,  and  Luther  was 
severely  criticised  for  his  bitter  denunciations  and 
the  influence  he  had  exerted  against  them.  The 
charge  was  made  that  he  had  stimulated  them  to 
rebellion,  and  then  forsaken  them  in  their  extremity. 
He  met  his  critics  in  an  open  letter  to  the  Chancellor 
of  Mansfeld,1  in  which  he  repeats  and  justifies  what 
he  had  written  in  the  book  published  several  months 
before.  For  the  time  his  name  was  as  thoroughly 
abhorred  among  the  peasants,  as  it  had  been  once 
hailed  with  acclamations  of  joy,  but  his  course  with 
respect  to  their  revolt  was  entirely  consistent  with 
that  which  he  had  a  short  time  before  pursued  in 
reference  to  the  uprising  of  the  nobles. 

1  Erlangen,  24  :  294  sqq. 


LUTHER  AND  CATHERINE,  1538. 

CHAPTER   V 

MARRIAGE 

LUTHER  chose  a  strange  time  for  his  marriage. 
Never  was  prospect  more  discouraging.  Both 
nobility  and  peasantry  had  been  alienated.  His 
power  of  moving  the  masses  that  had  once  been 
most  effective  had  failed.  Authority  had  triumphed, 
but  it  had  been  at  a  fearful  sacrifice.  The  Elector 
had  just  died.  Nevertheless  throughout  these  grave 
events  his  thoughts  had  been  for  some  weeks  upon 
taking  a  wife.  Even  in  his  mission  to  the  Thurin- 
gian  peasants,  with  all  the  horrors  of  a  war  before 
him,  the  issues  of  which  he  foresaw  must  be  most 
distressing,  he  was  meditating  this  step.  His  friends 
scarcely  believed  him.  But,  as  usual,  when  the  de- 
cision was  once  made,  it  was  quickly  executed.  The 
announcement  that  on  June  13,  1525,  he  had  married 
Catherine  von  Bora,  amazed  both  friend  and  foe. 
For  years  most  firmly  maintaining  the  sanctity  of 
marriage  and  denying  the  obligation  of  vows  made 
to  abstain  from  what  God  has  not  forbidden,  he 

263 


264  Martin  Luther  [i483- 

had  encouraged  a  number  of  his  associates  to  marry 
who  had  formerly  been  priests  or  monks.  Among 
them  were  Bugenhagen,  Regius,  and  Link,  as  well 
as  Zell,  Bucer,  and  Carlstadt.  The  earnest  wish  and 
continual  importunity  of  his  father  were  as  strong 
motives  as  any  in  determining  his  decision.  The 
bride  was  at  hand  in  one  of  the  nine  nuns  who  had 
escaped  at  Easter,  1523,  from  the  convent  at  Nimt- 
schen,  and  who,  until  otherwise  provided  for,  were 
dependent  upon  him  for  support.  The  Bora  family 
was  of  Wendish  origin.1  Its  name  is  equivalent  to 
the  German  Tanne  (fir-tree),  and  is  perpetuated  in 
the  Bavarian  family,  "  von  der  Tann."  Catherine 
was  the  daughter  of  Hans  von  Bora  and  Anna  von 
Haugwitz.  Their  home  had  been  originally  at 
Hirschfeld.  She  was  twenty-six  years  of  age,  and 
had  spent  ten  years  in  the  cloister.  A  passing  im- 
pression had  been  made  upon  a  Wittenberg  student 
of  a  noble  Nuremberg  family,  whose  devotion  cooled 
when  his  student  days  were  over,  much  to  Luther's 
disappointment,  as  he  was  most  favourable  to  the 
proposed  match.  Through  Amsdorf,  Luther  next 
sought  to  secure  her  promise  to  marry  Carlstadt's 
successor  at  Orlamuende.  But  the  maiden  was  more 
ambitious.  Her  answer  was  that  instead  of  the  man 
they  wanted  her  to  marry  she  was  ready  to  take 
either  Amsdorf  or  Dr.  Luther  himself. 

Luther's  mature  age  and  his  absorption  in  his 
numerous  responsibilities  prevented  him  from  being 

1  Details  of  genealogy  to  the  thirteenth  century  in  Seidemann's 
Appendix  to  De  Wette,  6  :  647  sq. ,  where  also  several  touching  letters 
of  Catherine,  written  shortly  after  her  husband's  death,  are  found. 


CATHERINE  VON  BORA. 

FROM  A  PAINTING  BY  CRANACH  IN  NUREMBERG. 


1525]  Marriage  265 

influenced  by  any  strong  attachment.  Although 
reacting  against  the  estimate  of  marriage  formed  in 
his  earlier  years,  it  was  impossible  for  him  to  en- 
tirely escape  the  influences  exerted  by  monastic 
conceptions  and  exercises  during  that  period  of  his 
life  when,  if  ever,  men  are  romantic.  A  general 
liking  for  the  maiden,  and  sympathy  with  her  in 
her  destitute  and  dependent  condition,  which  was 
out  of  keeping  with  her  noble  origin,  were  un- 
doubtedly present.  But  until  he  knew  her  better, 
her  aristocratic  bearing  had  repelled  him.  Her  ex- 
cellent administrative  abilities  and  her  devotion  as  a 
wife  and  mother  are  attested  throughout  the  sub- 
sequent twenty-one  years  of  her  married  life.  On  the 
evening  of  the  day  mentioned,  Luther  invited  to 
his  home  a  very  select  circle,  the  two  chief  pastors 
of  Wittenberg,  Bugenhagen  and  Jonas,  the  jurist 
Dr.  Apel,  who  had  married  a  former  nun,  and  the 
painter  Lucas  Cranach  and  wife,  who  brought  with 
them  the  bride.  The  absence  of  Melanchthon  and 
Schurf  indicate  that  Luther  anticipated  their  dis- 
satisfaction with  his  course.  The  next  morning 
there  was  a  wedding  breakfast,  but  the  formal  cele- 
bration of  the  event  was  deferred  until  the  2/th,  in 
order  to  give  time  for  the  invitation  of  friends  at  a 
distance.  At  the  banquet,  Luther's  aged  parents 
and  Leonard  von  Koppe,  who  had  assisted  Cather- 
ine in  her  escape  from  the  convent,  together  with 
the  other  nuns  who  had  been  her  associates  in  the 
flight,  were  present. 

The  marriage,  as  might  be  expected,  made  a  great 
sensation.     Jonas  wrote  the  next  day  that,  while  a 


266  Martin  Luther 


witness,  he  could  scarcely  restrain  his  tears.  Me- 
lanchthon,  in  order  to  be  as  confidential  as  possible, 
wrote  a  long  letter  in  Greek,  expressing  his  astonish- 
ment that,  at  so  grave  a  crisis,  a  step  sure  to  give 
occasion  for  attack  on  the  part  of  Luther's  enemies 
should  have  been  taken.  Schurf  had  prophesied 
that,  in  case  the  marriage  would  occur,  all  the  world 
and  the  devils  would  laugh,  and  Luther's  work 
would  come  to  naught.  Not  so  thought  Luther, 
who  predicted  that  all  angels  would  laugh,  while  all 
devils  would  weep  and  rage.  There  were  not  a 
few,  however,  who  were  ready  to  rejoice  with  him. 
Substantial  gifts  from  the  magistrates,  the  Univer- 
sity, and  many  friends,  showed  how  warm  a  place 
he  still  had  in  their  hearts. 

The  Augustinian  cloister,  whence  all  the  monks 
had  departed,  had  reverted  to  the  Elector,  who  had 
made  it  Luther's  home.  Here  he  had  lived  for  a  long 
time  with  the  last  of  the  brotherhood,  Brisger,  re- 
maining in  a  house  whence  the  rigorous  discipline  of 
former  days  had  departed,  but  had  not  given  place 
to  the  care  of  an  efficient  housekeeper.  For  one 
whole  year  or  more,  no  one  had  made  Luther's  bed. 
It  was  no  light  undertaking  which  the  bride  as- 
sumed, with  straitened  means,  to  furnish  the  large 
establishment,  and  maintain  it  on  an  income  of  but 
one  or  two  hundred  florins  a  year.  She  bravely 
entered  upon  her  calling  as  the  wife  of  one  widely 
hated,  and  knowing  well  how  opposed  to  the  mar- 
riage many  of  his  best  friends  had  been.  But  she 
was  encouraged  by  a  present  to  her  husband  from 
the  Elector  of  a  hundred  florins  for  beginning  house- 


1525]  Marriage  267 

keeping,  and,  strange  to  say,  a  personal  gift  to 
herself  of  twenty  florins  from  so  frequent  a  sub- 
ject for  her  husband's  attacks  as  the  Archbishop  of 
Mayence. 

The  characteristic  candour  of  Luther,  who  in  his 
correspondence  always  spoke  most  freely  to  his 
friends,  the  public  position  which  he  occupied,  bring- 
ing many  from  various  quarters  into  the  inner  circle 
of  his  family,  and  especially  the  students  who 
gathered  around  his  board  and  noted  his  many  say- 
ings in  his  hours  of  leisure,  have  made  the  details  of 
his  home  life  well  known.  Upon  his  public  life  the 
influence  of  his  marriage  cannot  be  traced.  But  it 
gave  him  rest  and  refreshment,  and  by  its  trials  dis- 
ciplined him  in  his  inner  life  for  far  greater  effi- 
ciency than  any  monastic  rule  he  had  ever  followed. 
However  the  marriage  may  be  criticised,  it  should 
not  be  forgotten  that  Luther  had  rights  as  a  private 
man  which  posterity  as  well  as  his  cotempo/  iries 
must  respect. 


DR.  FREDERICK  MYCONIUS. 


CHAPTER   VI 

VISITATION  OF    CHURCHES  AND   THE  CATECHISMS 

T^  LUSH  ED  with  his  victory  over  the  peasants, 
1  Duke  George  determined  to  push  his  advan- 
tage to  the  utmost.  Where  the  opportunity  was 
present,  the  pretext  of  complicity  in  the  rebellion 
was  employed  to  punish  innocent  adherents  of  the 
evangelical  faith.  Measures  were  taken  for  the 
complete  eradication  of  Lutheranism.  It  was  use- 
less, it  was  urged,  to  be  forever  cutting  away  the 
shoots,  while  the  root  was  untouched.  Repeated 
efforts  were  made  to  persuade  his  cousin,  the  new 
Elector,  and  the  Landgrave,  his  son-in-law,  to  turn 
against  Luther,  and  make  common  cause  against  all 
innovations.  A  league  was  formed  at  Dessau,  in 
July,  1524,  to  crush  out  "  the  Lutheran  sect,"  fol- 
lowed by  a  most  positive  declaration  of  the  evangel- 
ical princes  against  the  proposal.  Towards  the  close 
of  the  year,  the  Archbishop  of  Mayence  assembled 
his  clergy  to  take  measures  for  checking  the  spread 

268 


is29]  The  Catechisms  269 

of  the  evangelical  cause,  and  for  appealing  to  the 
Pope.  A  commission  of  rulers,  with  George  at  its 
head,  was  suggested,  as  the  best  plan  for  the 
thorough  extermination  of  Lutheranism.  Luther, 
in  order  to  give  the  widest  publicity  to  "  what  Satan 
wants  to  do  through  the  bishops  and  Duke  George," 
undertook  to  have  the  published  scheme  reprinted, 
with  his  own  introduction,  and  supplementary  re- 
marks ' ;  but  before  the  printing  was  completed,  it 
was  suppressed  by  the  Elector. 

Christian  II.  of  Denmark  having  assured  him  that 
there  had  been  a  change  of  mind  in  Henry  VIII., 
Luther  addressed  the  English  king  a  most  humble 
letter  of  apology  for  his  former  attack,  upon  the 
assumption  that  Henry's  book  had  been  written  by 
another  hand."  A  similar  letter  was  written  to  Duke 
George.  But  in  both  cases  the  letters  irritated  in- 
stead of  conciliating  the  persons  to  whom  they  were 
addressed.  War  with  France  had  prevented  the 
Emperor  from  any  aggressive  act.  But  with  the 
victory  of  Pavia,  the  King  of  France  became  his 
prisoner,  and  by  the  peace  of  Madrid,  January  14, 
1526,  they  bound  each  other  to  common  war  against 
the  Turk,  and  "  the  heretics  who  have  severed  their 
connection  with  the  Pope."  The  answer  of  the 
evangelical  party  was  the  formation  of  the  Torgau 
Alliance  in  the  succeeding  May.  Then  on  June 
25th  came  the  First  Diet  of  Spires.  The  lines  were 
now  sharply  drawn.  Danger  to  the  evangelical 
cause  was  averted  by  a  new  and  strange  ally.  The 
Pope  intervened  by  absolving  the  King  of  France 

1  Erlangen,  65  :  22.  8  De  Wette,  3  :  24  sqq. 


270  Martin  Luther  [I483- 

from  the  obligations  he  had  assumed  in  the  peace 
of  Madrid.  Francis  then  formed  "  The  Holy 
League  "  against  the  Emperor,  by  an  alliance  with 
the  Italian  cities,  which  was  approved  by  Henry 
VIII.  The  execution  of  the  Edict  of  Worms  was 
now  out  of  the  question.  The  Emperor's  policy 
was  to  conciliate  the  evangelicals.  The  Recess  of 
the  Diet  deferred  the  settlement  of  the  questions  in 
dispute  until  a  future  council,  either  national  or 
general.  The  arms  of  the  Emperor  were  turned 
against  the  Pope.  Rome  was  captured  and  sacked. 
The  Pope,  first  a  fugitive,  was  for  six  months  a 
prisoner.  "  Christ  so  rules,"  wrote  Luther,  "  that, 
while  the  Emperor  is  persecuting  Luther  for  Christ's 
sake,  the  Emperor  is  forced  to  despoil  the  Pope  for 
Luther's  sake." 

Meanwhile  the  time  had  come  for  a  vigorous 
prosecution  of  the  work  of  reorganising  the  churches 
of  Saxony.  The  Peasants'  War  showed  the  neces- 
sity of  reaching  the  people  more  directly  with  con- 
servative and  evangelical  church  influences.  The 
change  in  rulers  was,  in  this  respect,  opportune. 
Frederick's  tolerance  and  protection  were  succeeded 
by  John's  open  sympathy  and  readiness  for  aggres- 
sive participation.  Four  days  before  Frederick's 
death,  Spalatin  had  urged  upon  him  and  John  the 
necessity  for  prompt  measures.  After  this,  Spalatin, 
although  no  longer  private  secretary  to  the  Elector, 
but  pastor  at  Altenburg,  continued  to  be  a  con- 
fidential adviser,  and  was  sent  to  Wittenberg,  to 
confer  with  Luther  concerning  better  provisions  for 
the  University,  which  had  not  recovered  from  the 


1529]  The  Catechisms  271 

depletion  of  students  largely  due  to  Carlstadt's  radi- 
calism. Everywhere  there  was  confusion  in  the 
order  of  public  worship  and  in  all  church  regulations. 
Great  difficulty  had  been  experienced  in  translating 
the  Latin  chants  into  German,  and  adapting  the 
music.  For  three  weeks  Luther  laboured  industri- 
ously at  the  service,  with  the  aid  of  two  musicians, 
Conrad  Rupf  and  John  Walter.  The  music  for  the 
Gospels,  Epistles,  Words  of  Institution,  and  the 
German  Sanctus  was  composed  by  Luther,  much 
to  the  astonishment  of  his  associate,  Walter,  whom 
he  assured  that  he  found  the  notes  in  the  text  of 
the  words  to  be  sung.  As  there  were  many  calls  for 
a  similar  service  for  other  churches,  the  famous  Ger- 
man Mass  of  1526  was  the  result.1 

The  visitation  of  the  churches  was  most  important 
in  its  influence.  The  necessity  for  such  visitation 
Haussmann  had  urged.  But  the  difficulties  involved 
occasioned  protracted  delay.  Meanwhile  the  Land- 
grave had  a  Church  Constitution  drawn  up  by 
Francis  Lambert,  which  was  adopted  for  Hesse  at  a 
synod  at  Homberg  in  1526.  Luther  could  not  but 
recognise  in  it  an  application  of  his  principles  of 
church  government,  but  criticised  it  because  it  was 
adapted  only  to  ideal  conditions,  and  made  no  pro- 
vision for  the  administration  of  the  means  of  grace 
to  the  great  mass  of  the  people.  A  year  had  passed 
when  Luther  prepared  and  sent  to  the  Elector  a 
general  plan  for  church  visitation.  It  provided  for 
a  commission  of  four  visitors,  two  for  the  spiritual 

1  Erlangen,  22  :  226 sqq.;  ^i\c\A^\Kirchenordnungen,\.y  35  sqq.; 
Weimar,  xix.,  44  sqq. ,  gives  the  music,  as  well  as  the  text. 


272  Martin  Luther  [i483- 

and  two  for  the  temporal  interests  of  each  congrega- 
tion. Late  in  1526,  and  at  the  beginning  of  1527, 
the  plan  was  tried  in  several  districts  of  Saxony, 
with  results  which  showed  the  importance  of  the 
work.  In  these  visitations,  Melanchthon  and  Spala- 
tin  were  most  active,  and  from  the  experience  thus 
gained,  Melanchthon  prepared  Visitation  Arti- 
cles,1 for  the  use  of  future  official  visitors.  The 
Latin  outline  appeared  prematurely  and  without 
authority  in  1527.  It  became  the  occasion  of  a 
violent  attack  from  his  colleague,  Agricola,  who  ob- 
jected to  the  emphasis  he  had  placed  upon  the 
preaching  of  the  Law.  This  was  allayed  by  Luther's 
interference  on  Melanchthon's  side,  but  the  con- 
troversy broke  out  with  increased  bitterness  in  after 
years.  The  Order  of  Visitation?  published  the  next 
year,  was  thoroughly  revised  by  Luther,  who  wrote 
the  introduction.  The  dominion  of  the  Elector  was 
divided  into  six  districts,  and  four  visitors  assigned  to 
each.  Electoral  Saxony,  the  district  nearest  Wit- 
tenberg, fell  to  Luther.  The  exceptional  advan- 
tages of  close  contact  with  the  influences  emanating 
from  the  University  naturally  resulted  in  a  better 
showing  here  than  in  the  other  districts.  Neverthe- 
less, as  he  testifies  in  the  introduction  to  the  Small 
Catechism,  the  ignorance  not  only  of  the  people, 
but  also  of  the  clergy,  was  such  as  to  amaze  him. 
Pastors  having  more  than  one  congregation  were 
found,  who  used  the  Roman  Mass  in  one  church 
and  the  revised  evangelical  service  in  another.  One 
pastor  managed  only  with  great  difficulty  to  repeat 

1  C.  R.t  26  :  i  sqq.  *  /£.,  29  sqq. 


i529]  The  Catechisms  273 

the  Lord's  Prayer  and  the  Creed.  The  best  that 
could  be  done  in  many  cases  was  to  forbid  the 
pastors  from  preaching  sermons  of  their  own  com- 
position, and  direct  them  to  use  Luther's  Postils. 
In  one  village  the  people  objected  to  learning  the 
Lord's  Prayer,  because  they  thought  it  was  too 
long!  Drunkenness  and  other  immoralities  among 
the  clergy  were  not  rare ;  while  pursuits  most  remote 
from  the  clerical  office  were  followed  with  impunity. 
There  was  a  lamentable  deartli  of  schools  in  the 
country  districts.  Everywhere,  however,  the  influ- 
ence of  the  Pope  was  gone,  and  there  was  no  need 
of  further  attacks  upon  abuses,  but  only  of  building 
up  the  people  in  the  Christian  life.  These  visitations 
continued  until  1530,  and  were  resumed  in  1532. 
The  University  suffering  from  the  absence  on  these 
trips  of  both  Luther  and  Melanchthon,  and  the 
students  leaving  in  large  numbers,  Luther  was  re- 
lieved of  visitation  duties,  except  in  special  cases, 
in  March,  1529. 

The  most  important  of  all  the  fruits  of  the  visita- 
tion was  the  preparation  of  the  two  catechisms. 
For  years  the  idea  of  an  elementary  text-book, 
adapted  to  the  plainest  people,  had  been  in  his 
mind.  The  suggestion  is  traced  by  some  to  a 
question-book  of  the  Bohemian  Brethren.  In  his 
German  Mass  of  1526,  Luther  had  said:  "  The 
first  thing  needed  for  the  German  public  worship, 
is  a  blunt,  plain,  simple,  good  catechism."  It 
should  consist,  he  says,  of  explanations  of  the  Ten 
Commandments,  the  Creed,  and  the  Lord's  Prayer, 
in  the  form  of  questions  and  answers.  As  a  speci- 


274  Martin  Luther 

men,  he  treats  several  petitions  of  the  Lord's  Prayer. 
The  preceding  year  the  attempt  had  been  made  by 
Agricola  and  Jonas  to  prepare  such  a  catechism,  and 
had  failed.  The  visitation  forced  him  to  undertake 
the  long-deferred  work.  Materials  were  at  hand  in 
homilies  and  expositions  of  the  several  parts  of  the 
Catechism,  published  by  him  between  1516  and 
1520.  Cyprian  and  Augustine  were  freely  used. 
The  Visitation  Articles  and  the  Loci  of  Melanch- 
thon  supplied  invaluable  suggestions.  In  Jan- 
uary, 1529,  he  writes  that  he  is  "  composing  a 
catechism  for  rough  peasants."  The  Small  Cate- 
chism is  intended  to  provide  the  head  of  every 
family  with  a  text-book  that  every  child  and  servant 
must  learn  by  heart.  The  questions  are  asked  by 
the  child,  the  answers  made  by  the  parent.  Adher- 
ence to  an  unvarying  form  of  words  is  insisted  upon, 
and  failure  to  learn  it  is  not  only  to  prevent  from 
admission  to  the  Lord's  Supper,  but  should  be 
punished  by  parents  and  employers  with  the  denial 
of  food  and  drink. 

Next  to  his  translation  of  the  Bible,  the  prepara- 
tion of  the  Small  Catechism  was  Luther's  most  im- 
portant literary  work.  Thirty-seven  years  after  its 
appearance,  Matthesius  estimates  the  number  of 
copies  published  at  100,000,  which  is  certainly  a 
moderate  estimate,  when  in  the  United  States  there 
cannot  be  less  than  that  number  now  in  use  every 
year  in  the  seven  languages  of  the  Lutheran  Church 
of  America.  By  the  simplicity  of  its  treatment,  it 
illustrates  Luther's  remark:  "  If  we  would  instruct 
children,  we  must  ourselves  become  children." 


LUCAS  CRANACH. 

OM  HIS  OWN  PAINTING.' 


1529]  The  Catechisms  275 

The  exposition  of  the  second  article  of  the  Creed  is 
particularly  notable  in  the  original  not  only  for  its 
inimitable  literary  form,  but  for  the  depth  of  the 
thought  and  the  fervour  of  its  language. 

"  I  believe  that  Jesus  Christ,  true  God,  begotten  of 
the  Father  from  eternity,  and  also  true  man,  born  of  the 
Virgin  Mary,  is  my  Lord  ;  who  has  redeemed  me,  a  lost 
and  condemned  creature,  secured  and  delivered  me  from 
all  sins,  from  death,  and  from  the  power  of  the  devil, 
not  with  silver  and  gold,  but  with  His  holy  and  precious 
blood,  and  with  His  innocent  sufferings  and  death  ;  in 
order  that  I  might  be  His,  live  under  Him  in  His  king- 
dom, and  serve  Him  in  everlasting  righteousness,  inno- 
cence, and  blessedness  ;  even  as  He  has  risen  from  the 
dead,  and  lives  and  reigns  to  all  eternity.  This  is  most 
certainly  true." 

During  these  years  his  private  life  abounded  in 
trials.  Happy  as  a  husband  and  father,  his  son 
John  ("  Hans  ")  having  been  born  June  7,  1526, 
rejoicing  in  the  culture  of  flowers  in  the  garden, 
where  many  of  his  hours  of  recreation  were  spent, 
he  experienced  the  first  attacks  of  the  disease  from 
which,  in  subsequent  years,  he  endured  most  fre- 
quent and  acute  suffering.  In  January,  1527,  an 
attack  of  heart  trouble  was  nearly  fatal,  and  six 
months  later  he  thought  his  end  at  hand  from  pros- 
tration with  agonising  pains  in  his  head.  He  had 
not  entirely  recovered  when  the  plague  broke  out  at 
Wittenberg.  The  University  moved  in  July  to 
Jena,  where  it  remained  until  the  succeeding  Janu- 
ary. Luther  felt  it  to  be  a  higher  duty  to  remain 


276  Martin  Luther  ii483- 

by  the  side  of  Bugenhagen,  who  as  pastor  had  to 
brave  the  plague,  than  to  comply  with  the  Elector's 
urgent  request  that  he  follow  his  other  colleagues. 
In  a  paper  on  Whether  a  Christian  should  Flee  when 
Death  Threatens?  he  shows  the  principles  that 
prompted  and  sustained  him  in  this  crisis.  Pastors, 
rulers,  and  servants  needed  by  their  employers,  he 
holds,  must  remain.  Neither  is  any  one  whose  serv- 
ices are  needed  by  his  neighbours,  at  liberty  to 
desert  them.  But  where  such  need  does  not  exist, 
it  is  not  right  to  tempt  God ;  only  we  are  to  remem- 
ber that  we  are  everywhere  in  God's  hands,  and  that 
immunity  from  danger  is  not  secured  by  flight. 
Jonas  lost  a  child;  the  wife  of  the  burgomaster 
died  almost  in  Luther's  arms;  the  wife  of  the  chap- 
lain, Roerer,  died  in  Bugenhagen's  house  and  his 
family  found  refuge  in  Luther's  home ;  the  plague 
at  last  entered,  and  that  house  too  became  a  hospi- 
tal. But  his  faith  triumphed ;  a  few  students,  to 
whom  he  continued  lecturing,  shared  the  danger, 
and  by  the  close  of  the  year  the  peril  was  over.  On 
December  loth  his  daughter  Elizabeth  was  born, 
soon  by  her  premature  departure,  in  the  succeeding 
August  5th,  to  wring  from  him  the  lament:  "  She 
has  left  me  a  wonderfully  sick,  and  almost  a 
womanly  heart.  I  am  so  distressed  for  her.  Never 
have  I  thought  that  a  father's  heart  would  be  so 
tender  for  his  children."  a 

To  the  roll  of  martyrs  of  the  evangelical  faith 
there  was  added  about  this  time  Leonard  Kaiser  (or 
Kaeser),  a  Bavarian  pastor,  formerly  a  student  at 

1  Erlangen,  22  :  317  sqq.  *  De  Wette,  3  :  364  sq. 


1529]  The  Catechisms  277 

Wittenberg,  who  was  arrested  in  the  territory  of  the 
Bishop  of  Passau,  whither  he  had  gone  to  the  death- 
bed of  his  father.  When  Luther  heard  of  his  arrest, 
he  wrote  him  a  letter  of  consolation,1  and  interested 
the  Elector  on  his  behalf,  but  in  vain.  He  was 
burned  at  Schaerding,  August  16,  1527.  Luther 
published  an  account  of  the  martyrdom,  terming 
him  a  true  Kaiser  (Emperor),  who,  by  his  death, 
had  conquered  the  mightiest  power  on  earth.* 

Before  the  burning  of  Kaiser,  he  felt  deeply  the 
assassination  of  George  Winkler,  preacher  at  Halle, 
upon  his  return  from  an  appearance  at  the  episcopal 
court  of  the  Archbishop  of  Mayence,  where  he 
answered  the  charge  of  having  administered  the 
communion  in  both  forms.  Many  regarded  the 
Archbishop  an  accomplice  in  the  crime.  In  his 
Consolation  to  Christians  at  Halle  upon  the  Death 
of  their  Preacher,9  Luther  attacks  the  Recess  of 
Mayence,  with  its  sanguinary  threats,  as  justifying 
and  instigating  such  crimes.  Acts  scarcely  less 
atrocious  were  heard  of  from  many  quarters,  and 
created  ceaseless  anxiety. 


1  De  Wette,  3  :  179. 
*  Walch,  xxi.,  173  sqq. 
1  Erlangen,  22  :  294  sqq. 


ULRIC  ZWINQLI. 

A  MEMORIAL  OF  HIS  DEATH. 


CHAPTER  VII 

ZWINGLI  AND  THE  MARBURG  COLLOQUY 

IN  the  controversy  which  broke  out  in  1525,  sepa- 
rating into  two  camps  those  who  had  heretofore 
seemed  to  be  making  common  cause  against  the 
Papacy,  came  another  trial.  The  difference  concern- 
ing the  Holy  Supper,  that  came  into  prominence, 
was  only  the  expression  of  a  different  mode  of  view- 
ing all  the  articles  of  faith.  Ulric  Zwingli,  the  Swiss 
Reformer,  seven  weeks  Luther's  junior,  and,  like 
him,  a  peasant's  son,  knew  nothing  of  the  inner  con- 
flicts through  which  Luther  was  forced,  step  by  step, 
to  his  break  with  the  Papacy.  By  taste  and  train- 
ing a  humanist,  in  feeling  a  patriot,  and  in  practice 
a  politician  and  statesman,  he  had  the  courage  which 
most  of  the  humanists  had  not,  to  embody  his  con- 
victions of  the  corruptions  of  Rome  into  plans  of 
radical  reform  that  he  did  not  shrink  from  executing. 
Without  Luther's  conviction  of  the  pre-eminence  of 
his  calling  as  an  expounder  and  preacher  of  the 
simple  Word,  regardless  of  results,  Zwingli  concen- 

278 


1529]  The  Marburg  Colloquy  279 

trated  all  his  energies  upon  constructive  schemes  for 
the  reorganisation  of  society.  The  statue  at  Worms 
represents  Luther  armed  only  with  the  Bible ;  that 
at  Zurich  is  equally  appropriate  in  presenting  Zwingli 
with  one  hand  grasping  the  sword,  and  the  other  the 
Bible.  Luther's  theology  was  grounded  upon  a 
profound  conviction  of  the  total  corruption  of 
human  nature,  and  the  responsibility  of  every  mem- 
ber of  the  human  race  for  the  depravity  in  which  he 
is  born.  Zwingli  denied  the  Church's  doctrine  of 
original  sin,  except  as  it  might  be  regarded  as  de- 
signating in  a  figurative  sense  what  is  man's  misfor- 
tune rather  than  his  guilt.  The  doctrine  of  absolute 
predestination,  which  Luther  held  at  this  time  in 
common  with  Zwingli,  without  carrying  it  to  con- 
sequences for  which  the  Scriptures  gave  no  warrant, 
and  without  making  it  the  centre  of  his  system, 
Zwingli  pressed  to  the  extreme  of  denying  that 
there  are  actual  means  of  grace,  since  grace  is  effica- 
cious only  by  the  immediate  impulses  of  the  Holy 
Spirit.  In  this  depreciation  of  the  external  Word, 
Luther  thought  that  he  could  trace  the  same  spirit 
as  that  against  which  he  had  contended  in  his  con- 
flicts with  the  Anabaptists,  and  afterwards  with 
Muenzer  and  Carlstadt.  Luther's  conception  of 
the  sacraments  was  that  they  are  pledges  of  God's 
will  towards  us;  Zwingli  contended  that  they  are 
pledges  of  our  will  towards  God  and  our  fellow- 
Christians.  In  Luther's  system  they  are  divine;  in 
Zwingli's,  only  human  acts.  Baptism  Luther  looked 
upon  as  God's  covenant  assuring  and  applying  God's 
grace;  while  Zwingli  esteemed  it  simply  as  a  pro- 


280  Martin  Luther  [i483- 

mise  of  the  one  baptised  that  he  will  lead  a  Christian 
life,  and  a  testimony  of  the  Church  that  he  is  en- 
titled to  its  privileges.  To  Luther  the  sacraments 
were  particularly  precious,  since  he  found  in  them 
the  application  to  every  individual  of  the  special  as- 
surance of  divine  grace,  which,  in  the  hearing  and 
reading  of  the  Word,  is  given  only  in  a  general  form ; 
according  to  Zwingli's  view,  this  individual  applica- 
tion is  made  only  by  the  inner  testimony  of  the 
Spirit,  without  any  external  pledge.  Luther  re- 
garded the  Words  of  Institution  unsusceptible  of 
any  but  a  literal  interpretation,  and  held  that  they 
clearly  teach  the  true  presence  of  the  body  and 
blood  of  Christ  with  the  bread  and  wine,  at  the 
moment  of  the  reception  of  the  elements,  as  a 
pledge  of  everything  comprehended  in  the  words : 
"  Given  and  shed  for  you."  Zwingli,  on  the  other 
hand,  resorted  to  the  figurative  interpretation: 
'  This  represents,"  in  order  to  overthrow  most 
effectively  the  Roman  Catholic  doctrine  of  transub- 
stantiation,  and  with  it  the  sacrifice  of  the  Mass. 
The  divergence  between  the  two  leaders  on  the 
doctrine  of  the  sacraments  is  only  a  result  of  their 
difference  on  the  doctrine  of  the  Word. 

Luther  favoured  the  retention  of  everything  in  the 
practice  and  usages  of  the  Church  not  contrary  to 
Holy  Scripture.  Zwingli  proceeded  upon  the  theory 
that,  without  express  Scriptural  command,  nothing 
should  be  retained.  The  service  was  reduced  to 
extreme  simplicity ;  pictures  and  statues  were  re- 
moved from  the  churches,  upon  the  assumption 
that  their  presence  was  contrary  to  the  Ten  Com- 


1529]  The  Marburg  Colloquy  281 

mandments;  organs  were  banished,  and  sacred 
music  disparaged  as  interfering  with  spirituality. 

Luther's  nature  was  fiery  and  impetuous;  his 
speech  was  frank,  open,  and  straightforward.  If 
he  were  angry,  he  uttered  all  his  wrath;  if  con- 
vinced that  he  had  erred,  he  cared  nothing  about  a 
reputation  for  consistency,  but  frankly  acknow- 
ledged the  error.  Everything  was  spontaneous. 
He  lived,  with  all  his  intensity,  in  the  moment  in 
which  he  spoke.  Nothing  was  done  by  indirection 
or  diplomacy.  Zwingli  was  as  cool  and  self-pos- 
sessed as  Luther  was  passionate.  He  knew  how  to 
hold  his  indignation  in  check,  to  suppress  his  words, 
and  to  conceal  his  feelings.  A  skilful  logician,  and 
an  adroit  man  of  affairs,  he  sought  a  definite  end  by 
carefully  planned  methods,  and  was  rarely  betrayed 
into  inconsistencies.  Luther  won  his  battles  by 
sudden  and  unexpected  charges  that  broke  upon  his 
enemies  with  the  force  of  a  tornado.  Zwingli's 
strength  lay  in  strategy. 

Zwingli's  doctrine  of  the  Lord's  Supper  coincides 
with  suggestions  previously  made  by  Erasmus.  AH 
connection  with  Carlstadt  he  indignantly  repudiated. 
Professing  to  have  held  his  explanation  for  a  num- 
ber of  years  as  a  private  opinion,  he  refrained  from 
publishing  until  it  could  first  be  submitted  to  learned 
judges.  But  when  Carlstadt's  view,  with  its  ex- 
aggerations, was  diffused,  he  undertook  to  present 
his  own,  first  in  a  private  letter  to  Alberus  of  Reut- 
lingen,  which  was  sent  also  to  the  Strassburgers  a 
month  later,  when  both  his  opinion  and  that  of 
Luther  were  asked,  and  then,  in  the  succeeding 


282  Martin  Luther  [1483- 

year,  in  his  Commentary  on  True  and  False  Religion. 
The  coming  conflict  was  seen,  when  Luther's  formal 
opinion  reached  the  Strassburgers  about  the  same 
time,  although  Luther  did  not  deem  Zwingli's 
opinion  worthy  of  immediate  answer,  and  Bugen- 
hagen  was  the  first  to  make  an  attack.  In  Septem- 
ber, 1525,  CEcolampadius,  who  held  a  similar  opinion, 
although  he  found  the  figure  in  the  word  "  body," 
sought  to  gain  adherents  by  a  letter  addressed  the 
Wuertemburg  clergy,  which  was  answered  in  the 
Syngramma,  composed  by  John  Brenz.  In  Silesia, 
Kaspar  Schwenckfeldt,  a  nobleman,  hitherto  one  of 
Luther's  most  zealous  friends,  sought  to  spiritualise 
the  Words  of  Institution,  and  was  supported  by  the 
theologian,  Krautwaldt.  They  were  answered  by 
Hess,  while  the  Baden  preacher,  Jacob  Strauss,  at- 
tacked Zwingli.  At  Strassburg,  Capito  and  Bucer 
were  won  to  Zwingli's  side,  but  hoped,  by  media- 
tion, to  avoid  an  open  rupture  with  Luther.  Ger- 
belius,  a  Strassburg  jurist,  kept  Luther  informed 
concerning  what  was  transpiring  there,  and  repre- 
sented that  the  pastors  were  secret  adherents  of 
Carlstadt.  Luther's  distrust  was  increased  when 
Bucer,  who  translated  the  writings  of  the  Witten- 
berg theologians,  published  an  edition  of  Luther's 
Postils  and  one  of  Bugenhagen's  exposition  of  the 
Psalms,  in  which  he  modified  the  teaching  concern- 
ing the  Lord's  Supper,  so  as  to  make  it  harmonise 
with  that  of  Zwingli.1  Party  spirit  ran  high.  The 
Council  of  Nuremberg  sent  a  protest  to  that  of 

1  See  the  charge  made  by  Luther  against   Bucer  in  "That  these 
•words  :  '  This  is  My  Body,'  abide"  (1527).     Erlangen,  30  :  147  sqq. 


15*9]          The  Marburg  Colloquy  283 

Strassburg  concerning   the  doctrine  encouraged  in 
the  latter  city. 

The  political  crisis  in  Germany  in  1525  advising  a 
union  of  all  the  opponents  of  the  Papacy,  George 
Cassel  was  sent  to  Wittenberg  to  confer  with  Luther; 
but  their  meeting  was  without  result.  As  long  as 
Zwingli  addressed  only  his  friends  and  wrote  only 
in  the  Latin  language,  Luther  remained  silent,  but 
when,  in  1526,  Zwingli  sought  to  popularise  his 
doctrine  in  a  German  treatise,  A  Clear  Explanation 
of  the  Lord 's  Supper,  Luther  replied  in  an  introduc- 
tion to  the  Syngramma,  followed  by  A  Sermon.  It 
was  during  the  years  1527  and  1528  that  the  chief 
burden  of  this  controversy  fell  upon  him.  The 
severity  of  his  language  against  his  opponents  can 
be  understood  only  when  it  is  remembered  how 
heavy  was  the  responsibility  upon  him  for  the  cor- 
rect representation  of  the  movement  which  he  had 
started.  In  his  Large  Confession  concerning  the 
Lord" s  Supper,'1  he  treats  of  the  errors  of  his  oppon- 
ents, then  enters  into  a  critical  examination  of  the 
passages  of  Scripture  involved,  and  concludes  with 
a  comprehensive  confession  of  his  faith. 

"  Since  I  see,"  he  says,  "  that  sects  and  errors  are 
continually  increasing,  in  order  that,  hereafter,  during 
my  life  or  after  my  death,  no  one  may  appeal  to  or 
falsely  quote  my  writings  to  strengthen  his  error,  as  the 
Sacramentarians  and  Anabaptists  are  doing,  I  will,  here- 
with, confess  my  faith,  article  by  article,  before  all  the 
world.  By  this  expression  I  purpose  to  abide  until 

1  Erlangen,  30  :  151  sqq. 


284  Martin  Luther 

death,  and  by  God's  help,  to  depart  from  this  world  and 
to  stand  before  the  judgment  seat  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ.  If  any  one  after  my  death  will  say  :  '  If  Luther 
were  still  living  he  would  teach  and  hold  differently  con- 
cerning this  article,  for  he  had  not  sufficiently  examined 
it,'  etc.,  I  say  in  reply,  for  the  present  as  well  as  for  the 
future,  that  I  have  tested  all  these  articles  most  care- 
fully by  the  Holy  Scriptures,  and  am  now  ready  to  de- 
fend them  as  vigorously  as  I  have  defended  that  of  the 
Sacrament  of  the  Altar.  I  am  not  drunk,  neither  do  I 
speak  rashly,  but  know  what  I  am  saying,  and  am  well 
aware  of  the  account  I  must  render  the  Lord  Jesus  at 
the  Day  of  Judgment.  Let  no  one,  therefore,  regard 
this  a  matter  of  jest  or  trifling  ;  for  I  am  in  earnest."  ' 

New  dangers  were  threatening  the  evangelical 
cause,  rendering  the  division  among  its  adherents 
most  inopportune.  Peace  had  been  made  between 
Pope  and  Emperor,  and  the  time  had  come  when  it 
seemed  to  the  evangelical  princes  that  they  could 
no  longer  remain  undisturbed  by  attempts  to  coerce 
them.  In  their  alertness  to  be  informed  as  to  the 
first  approaches  of  danger,  the  Elector  and  Land- 
grave were  imposed  upon  by  the  forgeries  of  Otto 
von  Pack,  a  former  counsellor  of  Duke  George,  in 
which  a  counterfeit  agreement  of  Ferdinand  and 
George  with  the  Electors  of  Brandenburg  and  May- 
ence,  and  the  Bishops  of  Salzburg,  Wuerzburg,  and 
Bamberg,  was  produced.  Lutheranism  was  to  be 
extirpated ;  the  Elector  and  Landgrave  were  to  be 
deprived  of  their  dominions,  and  the  confederates 
were  to  divide  the  territory.  Without  a  suspicion 

1  Erlangen,  30  :  363  sqq. 


THE  ELECTOR  JOHN  FREDERICK  OF  SAXONY. 

AFTER  THE  COPPER  ENGRAVING  BY  G.    PENCZ,   1543. 


1529]  The  Marburg  Colloquy  285 

as  to  its  genuineness,  the  Protestant  princes  pre- 
pared for  war.  The  Landgrave  was  for  moving  at 
once  upon  the  confederates.  The  Elector  sum- 
moned Luther  to  Torgau  for  consultation.  Al- 
though also  deceived  as  to  the  genuineness  of  the 
document,  he  used  all  his  influence  to  dissuade  from 
any  aggressive  movement.  There  was  no  proof  that 
the  Emperor  approved  the  conspiracy,  and  there- 
fore, he  argued,  it  would  be  a  crime  to  break  the 
peace.  The  only  course  was  to  wait  patiently  for 
the  ripening  of  the  plot.  If  the  Landgrave  still  in- 
sisted on  making  war,  then  the  Elector,  he  declared, 
should  not  co-operate,  as  it  would  be  contrary  to 
God's  will.  The  wisdom  of  Luther's  advice  was 
seen,  when  the  Landgrave's  demand  for  an  explan- 
ation exposed  the  fraud.  Luther  had  saved  Ger- 
many from  a  religious  war. 

As  the  dark  cloud  of  Turkish  invasion  was  casting 
its  shadows  upon  the  boundaries  of  Hungary,  and 
threatening  Germany,  he  deemed  it  his  duty  to  raise 
the  cry  of  alarm  and  explain  the  position  he  had 
taken,  years  before,  in  antagonism  to  the  Pope's  call 
to  arms.1  The  Christian,  as  a  Christian,  must  use 
only  the  sword  of  the  Spirit;  but,  as  an  obedient 
subject  of  the  Emperor,  he  must  use  also  the  tem- 
poral sword  to  repel  robbers  and  murderers,  such  as 
the  Turks  are.  This  treatise,  scattered  throughout 
the  country  in  large  editions,  was  followed  by  A 
Summons  to  Battle?  when  the  Turks  had  advanced 
so  far  as  to  besiege  Vienna. 

At  the  Second  Diet  of  Spires,  which  assembled 

1  Erlangen,  31  :  31  sqq.  *  1&-,  80  sqq. 


286  Martin  Luther  [1483- 

March  15,  1529,  the  opponents  of  the  evangelical 
cause  were  in  the  large  majority.  All  concessions 
of  the  Diet  of  1526  were  revoked ;  the  execution  of 
the  Edict  of  Worms  was  enforced  in  all  countries 
where  it  had  been  observed ;  and  all  innovations  in 
other  places  prohibited.  The  celebration  of  the 
Mass  according  to  the  old  order  was  everywhere  pro- 
tected, and  the  revenues  of  the  clergy  assured.  The 
Zwinglians  and  Anabaptists  were  to  be  extirpated 
wherever  found.  The  protests  entered  against  this 
by  the  five  evangelical  princes  and  the  representa- 
tives of  fourteen  cities,  April  iQth,  gave  them  the 
name  of  "  Protestants."  Directed  not  so  much 
against  ecclesiastical  and  worldly  rulers  as  against 
the  despotism  of  mere  majorities,  this  Instrumentum 
Magnum*  as  it  is  sometimes  called,  is  the  Magna 
Charta  of  modern  civil  and  religious  liberty.  With 
a  wide  outlook  the  signers  of  this  document  appeal 
not  only  for  themselves  and  their  subjects,  but  also 
for  "  all  who  either  now  or  in  the  future,  will  adhere 
to  the  holy  Word  of  God,"  declare  that  member- 
ship in  the  one  spiritual  Body  of  Christ  requires 
each  one  to  provide  for  the  spiritual  interests  of  his 
brethren,  and  assert  the  right  of  private  judgment 
in  words  worthy  of  everlasting  memory,  viz.,  that 
"  IN  MATTERS  PERTAINING  TO  GOD'S  HONOUR9 


1  In  full  in  Walch,  xvi.,  364  sqq. ;  M tiller's  Historic  von  der  Ev. 
Stande  Protestation  und  Appelation  (Jena,  1705),  51  sqq.  Summa- 
ries in  Latin,  Seckendorf,  ii.,  130  ;  in  German,  Gieseler's  Church 
History,  notes  to  vol.  iv.,  131  (Am.  ed.). 

*  "  In  den  Sachen,  Gottes  Ehreund  unserer  Seelen  Heil  und  Selig- 
keit  belangend,  ein  jeglicher  fur  sich  selbst  vor  Gott  stehen,  und 
Rechenschaft  geben  muss." 


KASPAR  CRUCIQER. 

FROM  A  WOOD-CUT  BY  TOBIAS  8TIMMER. 


1529]          The  Marburg  Colloquy  287 

AND  OUR  SOULS'  SALVATION,  EVERY  ONE  MUST 
STAND  AND  GIVE  AN  ACCOUNT  OF  HIMSELF  BE- 
FORE GOD." 

So  critical  was  the  situation  that  the  Protestants 
immediately  entered  into  an  armed  alliance  for 
mutual  defence.  It  being  important  that  the  alli- 
ance should  be  extended  as  far  as  possible,  the 
Landgrave  was  intent  upon  securing  the  co-opera- 
tion of  the  Swiss,  while  the  Swiss,  in  turn,  desired 
that  Venice  and  France  should  be  included.  But 
as  the  only  object  of  the  Elector  was  to  secure 
mutual  defence  in  the  right  to  have  the  same 
Gospel,  there  had  to  be  agreement  as  to  what 
was  meant  by  "  the  Gospel."  Unjust  as  was  the 
decree  of  Spires  against  Zwinglianism,  those  who 
regarded  Zwinglianism  as  a  departure  from  truth 
could  not  be  expected  to  go  to  war  for  its  mainte- 
nance. The  contest  in  progress  was  not  one  in  which 
all  wrongs  were  to  be  righted,  but  one  in  which  they 
felt  themselves  justified  in  resistance  only  where  the 
Emperor  attacked  that  which  they  were  convinced 
was  of  God.  A  conference  of  theologians,  for  the 
purpose  of  settling,  if  possible,  the  points  of  dis- 
pute, was  the  result.  It  was  due  to  the  tireless 
efforts  of  the  Landgrave,  and  was  held  October  1-3, 
1529,  in  his  castle  at  Marburg,  where  he  royally  en- 
tertained all  the  participants.  Luther  was  accom- 
panied by  Melanchthon,  Jonas,  and  Cruciger  of 
Wittenberg,  Myconius  of  Gotha,  Brenz  of  Hall, 
Osiander  of  Nuremberg,  and  Stephen  Agricola  of 
Augsburg;  Zwingli,  by  CEcolampadius  of  Basel,  and 
the  two  Strassburgers,  Bucer  and  Hedio.  After  a 


288  Martin  Luther  [1483, 

day  of  private  conferences,  in  which  Luther  was 
closeted  with  CEcolampadius,  and  Melanchthon  with 
Zwingli,  and  exchanged  views  concerning  the  other 
articles,  a  public  discussion  on  the  Lord's  Supper 
was  held,  beginning  at  6  A.M.,  Saturday,  October 
2d.  With  the  Landgrave,  who  took  the  deepest 
interest  in  all  the  proceedings,  were  the  exiled  Duke 
Ulrich  of  Wuertemberg  and  a  select  number  of 
guests.  The  four  contestants  sat  around  a  table; 
Luther  and  Melanchthon  on  the  one  side,  and 
Zwingli  and  CEcolampadius  on  the  other.  Except 
for  a  few  incidental  remarks  of  Melanchthon  and 
Brenz,  Luther  was  the  sole  speaker  on  his  side, 
while  his  two  opponents  alternated  in  their  replies. 
The  arguments  were  not  new;  they  had  been  al- 
ready presented  in  the  controversial  writings  that 
had  appeared.  Luther  laid  all  the  stress  upon  the 
words,  "  This  is  My  Body,"  which  he  had  written 
in  chalk  upon  the  table;  while  Zwingli  insisted  that 
in  the  sixth  chapter  of  John  is  found  the  key  to  the 
doctrine.  Neither  expected  that  he  would  make  a 
convert  of  the  other,  but  contended  with  a  view  to 
the  effect  to  be  produced  upon  the  audience. 
Luther  spoke  at  times  with  characteristic  severity, 
but  with  more  than  usual  self-control  and  courtesy. 
The  controversy  being  clearly  irreconcilable,  the 
Landgrave  asked  that  other  grounds  of  union  be 
sought,  which  Luther  declared  to  be  impossible. 
The  rejection  of  Zwingli's  hand,  offered  with  tears, 
the  repudiation  of  the  term  "  brethren,"  and  the 
words:  "  You  have  another  spirit,"  so  often  dram- 
atically described  as  discreditable  to  Luther,  should 


1529]          The  Marburg  Colloquy  289 

always  be  understood  as  meaning  nothing  more 
than  a  declaration  of  the  absolute  impossibility  of 
making  common  cause  with  Zwingli,  in  a  political 
alliance,  upon  such  terms.  To  have  accepted 
Zwingli's  hand  under  such  circumstances  would 
have  meant  readiness  to  defend  unto  death  his  ex- 
planation of  the  Lord's  Supper.  It  was  not  a 
question  of  respecting  the  convictions  of  his  oppon- 
ent, but  of  arraying  the  entire  evangelical  party  in 
its  support  against  the  Emperor.  Nor,  in  view  of 
the  other  political  alliances  that  Zwingli  was  then 
projecting,  could  any  one  divine  to  what  extent  such 
responsibility  would  be  carried.  That  there  was  no 
personal  rancour  present  may  be  learned  from 
Luther's  statement  a  few  days  later:  "  We  gave 
them,  nevertheless,  the  right  hand  of  peace  and 
love,  and  promised,  meanwhile,  to  abstain  from 
bitter  words  and  writings,  so  that,  while  each  may 
teach  his  own  opinion,  he  may  do  so  without  invect- 
ive, but  not  without  the  right  of  defence  and  re- 
futation." '  They  all  mingled  cordially  around  the 
Landgrave's  table,  and  spent  a  day  in  social  inter- 
course, with  candid  and  informal  comparison  of 
views,  the  fruit  of  which  appears  in  The  Marburg 
Articles,  *  drawn  up  by  Luther,  and  with  the 
exception  of  a  portion  of  the  article  on  the  Lord's 
Supper,  signed  also  by  Zwingli  and  his  associates. 
"  We  left  Marburg  with  the  hope,  that  as  theycon- 


1  De  Wette,  3  :  5-13  ;  cf.   Erlangen,  32  :  398  sqq.,  36:  320  sqq.; 
Melanchthon's  account  in  C.  R.,  i  :  1099  sqq. 

*  Erlangen,  65  :  88  sqq.;  in   English,  Book  of  Concord  (Jacobs), 

ii.,  69-74. 
19 


290  Martin  Luther  [i529 

ceded  all  the  Christian  articles,  and  had  receded  from 
their  former  error  concerning  the  Holy  Sacrament, 
they  would  in  time  completely  unite  with  us."  ' 
The  prevalence  of  an  epidemic  hastened  the  disper- 
sion of  the  participants  to  their  homes.  Called 
upon  to  preach  on  the  morning  before  he  left  Mar- 
burg, Luther's  sermon*  is  without  the  least  reminis- 
cence of  the  contest.  It  is  a  calm,  practical,  edifying 
discourse  on  civil  rights  and  the  forgiveness  of  sins. 


1  Short  Confession  concerning  the  Lord's  Supper  (1545),  Erlangen, 
32 :  405. 
*  Erlangen,  14  :  206  sqq. 


LUTHER'S  COAT  OF  ARMS. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

COBURG  AND   AUGSBURG 

ON  his  journey  homeward  Luther  tarried  at 
Schleiz,  to  prepare  a  doctrinal  basis  for  a 
conference,  to  be  held  at  Schwabach,  October  i6th.' 
The  coming  of  the  Emperor  to  Germany  was  re- 
garded with  serious  apprehension.  Luther's  opinion 
being  invoked  by  the  Elector  as  to  whether  the 
evangelical  princes  would  be  justified  in  making 
armed  resistance, .in  case  Charles  should  undertake 
to  enforce  the  decree  of  Spires,  he  gave  an  unquali- 
fied negative  answer.  If  the  Emperor  act  un- 
justly, the  remedy,  he  maintains,  is  deposition  by 
due  legal  process.  But  as  long  as  he  is  the  sover- 
eign, he  must  be  obeyed,  and  to  resort  to  revolu- 
tionary measures  implies  a  denial  of  faith  in  the 
power  of  God's  word  to  bring  about  the  change. 
A  few  days  afterwards  the  announcement  was  made 
that  the  Emperor  would  open  the  Diet  at  Augsburg 

1  Schwabach  Articles  ;  in  English,  Book  of  Concord,  ii.,  69-74. 
291 


292  Martin  Luther  [1483- 

on  the  8th  of  April,  1530.  Measures  against  the 
Turk,  and  the  settlement  of  the  religious  dissension 
in  the  spirit  of  love,  were  the  announced  pro- 
gram. The  Wittenberg  theologians  were  sum- 
moned by  the  Elector  (March  I4th),  to  prepare, 
within  six  days,  a  report  concerning  the  disputed 
ceremonies  and  matters  of  doctrine.  The  result 
was  a  memorandum,  chiefly  concerning  ceremonies.1 
The  Elector,  uncertain  as  to  what  issues  might  be 
sprung  upon  him,  wanted  his  theological  advisers 
with  him.  Leaving  Wittenberg  on  Sunday,  April 
3d,  the  theologians  joined  the  Elector  at  Torgau. 
Palm  Sunday  was  spent  at  Weimar,  where  the 
Lord's  Supper  was  administered,  and  a  rest  of  sev- 
eral days  was  taken.  On  Good  Friday  (April  I5th) 
Coburg  was  reached,  where  the  party  remained  for 
over  a  week. 

The  prediction  had  been  made  that  the  Elector 
would  not  venture  to  appear  at  Augsburg.  Not 
only  was  he  to  be  the  first  on  the  ground,  but  he 
was  taking  with  him  the  man  who  was  the  chief 
cause  of  offence.  No  Imperial  passes  had  been 
furnished,  and  it  was  deemed  the  part  of  prudence 
to  move  cautiously.  The  Elector  seems  to  have 
given  up,  with  great  reluctance,  the  thought  of 
having  Luther  by  his  side  during  this  crisis;  but 
the  opposition  of  the  Nurembergers  to  the  continu- 
ance of  his  journey  resulted  in  the  Elector's  placing 
him  in  the  powerful  citadel  of  Coburg,  behind  walls 
that  in  the  Thirty  Years'  War  were  to  defy  all  the 


1  Book  of  Concord,  ii.,  75  sqq.;  in  German  (original),  Foerstemann's 
Urkundenbuch,  i. ,  68  sqq. 


»53<>]  Coburg  and  Augsburg  293 

efforts  of  Wallenstein.  Luther  acquiesced  reluc- 
tantly, and  suggested  that  the  real  reason  was  that 
he  had  "  too  coarse  a  voice  "  for  the  Diet.1  But  he 
took  comfort  in  the  thought:  "  Whatever  pleases 
God,  pleases  me."2  Taken  to  the  fortress  before 
break  of  day  on  the  23d,  he  remained  for  more  than 
five  months  on  an  elevation  of  over  1500  feet  above 
the  sea,  and  500  feet  above  the  city  which  it  over- 
hangs. In  this  ideal  place  for  a  summer  home,  with 
the  quiet  broken  only  by  the  songs  and  cries  of 
birds,  and  its  magnificent  prospect  covering  many 
miles,  he  found  a  much-needed  change  of  scene, 
even  though  his  restless  spirit  only  turned  to  other 
forms  of  work.  Always  living  intensely  amidst 
whatever  surroundings,  his  fancy  saw,  in  the  daws 
and  crows  and  ravens,  now  crowds  of  chattering 
sophists,  who  consumed  the  grain,  only  to  dispute, 
and  then  an  Imperial  Diet,  such  as  was  assembling 
at  Augsburg.  Their  characteristics  were  closely 
observed,  and,  as  they  strutted  before  him,  indi- 
vidual participants  in  current  events  were  recognised. 
The  mountain  he  called  "  Sinai  ";  but  said  that 
he  would  change  it  into  Zion,  by  building  there 
three  tabernacles,  one  for  the  Psalms,  another  for 
the  Prophets,  and  a  third  for  JEsop.'  His  effort 
to  complete  the  translation  of  the  Psalms  by  Whit- 
sunday was  thwarted  by  frequent  attacks  of  head- 

1  The  suggestion  of  Pallavicini,  however,  seems  most  plausible, 
viz.,  that  the  Emperor  would  have  regarded  the  presence  of  one  who 
had  been  condemned  by  the  Edict  of  Worms  as  an  unpardonable  act 
of  defiance. —  Vera  Historia  Concilii  Tridentini  (Latin  translation), 
Antwerp,  1670,  i.,  232. 

*  De  Wette,  4:12.  *  /<*•,  2. 


294  Martin  Luther  [1483- 

ache  and  insomnia  and  symptoms  of  his  former 
heart  trouble.  For  a  time  his  illness  occasioned  the 
gravest  apprehensions  at  Augsburg,  and  a  physician 
was  sent  to  the  castle  by  the  Elector.  The  shadow 
of  a  severe  affliction  was  cast  upon  him  by  the  tid- 
ings, on  June  Qth,  that  his  father  had  departed  this 
life,  strong  in  the  faith  his  son  had  confessed  and 
taught.  Veit  Dietrich,  a  young  Nuremberg  pastor, 
and  former  inmate  of  his  house,  who  was  Luther's 
companion  at  Coburg,  narrates  that,  on  reading  the 
letter,  he  picked  up  his  Psalter  and  retired  for  the 
rest  of  the  day  to  his  room,  where  in  solitude  he 
comforted  himself  with  the  consolations  so  abund- 
antly offered  in  his  favourite  book  of  devotion.  To 
Melanchthon  he  poured  out  his  grief  in  a  letter  in 
which  he  said  that  to  his  father  he  owed  all  that  he 
was  and  had.1 

But  grief  was  as  powerless  as  joy  to  interrupt  long 
his  work.  In  the  writing  of  an  exposition  of  Psalm 
CXVIII.,  he  found  especial  comfort.  Recreation 
was  afforded  by  paraphrasing  some  of  ^Esop's 
fables.  Here,  too,  shortly  after  learning  of  his 
father's  death,  he  wrote  a  letter  to  his  four-year-old 
son,  Hans,  in  which  he  describes  the  joys  of  Heaven 
under  imagery  that  a  child  can  best  understand : 

"  Where  merry  children  run  about  in  their  little  golden 
coats,  gathering  nice  apples  and  pears  and  cherries  and 
plums  from  under  the  trees,  and  riding  on  pretty  horses 
with  golden  bridles  and  silver  saddles,  and  where  they 
have  pipes  and  drums  and  lutes  and  all  sorts  of  stringed 
instruments,  and  shoot  with  their  cross-bows."  4 

1  De  Wette,  4  :  33.  *  Ib.,  41  sqq. 


IHESV  ET  MARIAE  PATROC1NIO, 


ArtioiT<M404.partim  ad  difputationes  Lipficam^Baden^  Bcmcfi 

artinentes  ,  partim  vero  ex  fcripris  paccm  ccdcfce  per* 

turbanrium  extraftos,  Coram  diuo  Cxfarc  Ca» 

ro!o  V*  Ro.  Imp,  fcmpcr  Augu.  ac«ac 

proccribus  Imperil  ,loan,  Eckius 

minimus  ecclefiae  miniflcr, 

offcrt  fc  difpautu* 

rum,vtin 
fchedalatiusex^ 
phcatur  A  uguftae  Vin« 


Ok  flthora  confoifif  Ccfittl) 

pofteriuj 


TITLE-PAQE  OF  ECK'S  404  THESES  CIRCULATED  AT  AUQSBURQ,  TO  WHICH 
THE  AUQSBURQ  CONFESSION  IS  IN  PART  A  REPLY. 


Coburg  and  Augsburg  295 

In  spirit  at  Augsburg,  he  determined  to  make  his 
voice  also  heard  there,  and  wrote,  accordingly, 
during  the  first  weeks  of  his  stay  at  the  castle,  an 
Exhortation  to  the  Clergy?  then  assembled  at  the 
Diet.  Before  the  Diet  actually  opened,  the  book, 
which  has  been  called  "  Luther's  Augsburg  Confes- 
sion," had  been  printed  and  was  on  sale  at  the 
place  where  all  eyes,  for  the  time,  were  resting. 

What  course  to  pursue  in  case  the  Emperor  should 
forbid  evangelical  preaching  during  the  Diet  was 
a  question  that  much  agitated  the  Protestants  on 
the  ground.  Luther's  answer,  when  his  opinion  was 
asked,  was  that  the  only  proper  course  would  be  to 
submit  under  protest.  The  Emperor,  to  conciliate 
them  as  much  as  possible,  made  the  prohibition 
universal,  and  while  the  Diet  was  in  session  neither 
Roman  Catholic  nor  Protestant  sermon  was  preached. 

Not  until  June  I5th  did  the  Emperor  reach  Augs- 
burg. The  Elector  had  been  awaiting  his  arrival  for 
over  six  weeks.  Ample  time,  therefore,  was  given 
Melanchthon  for  the  preparation  of  the  Confession. 
Begun  at  Coburg,  with  the  portion  treating  of  abuses 
based  upon  the  Torgau  Articles,  and  the  doctrinal  part 
upon  the  Schwabach  Articles,  every  moment  that 
could  be  found  at  Augsburg  had  been  devoted  to 
writing  and  rewriting  and  improving  every  sentence. 
The  404  Theses  of  Eck,  consisting  of  extracts  not 
only  from  the  writings  of  the  Saxon  theologians,4  but 
also  from  those  of  Zwingli,  Carlstadt,  and  Denck,  col- 

1  Erlangen,  24  :  329  sqq. 

*  Including  the  forty-one  alleged  errors  of  Luther  contained  in  the 
Pope's  Bull, 


296  Martin  Luther 

lected  with  the  view  of  making  the  Lutherans  re- 
sponsible for  most  of  the  heresies  the  Church  had  in 
former  years  condemned,  showed  the  necessity  of 
rendering  the  doctrinal  statement  particularly  ex- 
plicit. Communication  was  maintained  with  Luther 
at  Coburg.  On  May  I5th  he  wrote  that  the  Con- 
fession, or  "  Apology,"  as  he  calls  it,  pleased  him  so 
well  that  he  could  suggest  no  changes,  and  says  that 
he  himself  could  not  have  composed  it,  as  he  could 
not  tread  so  softly  or  gently.'  One  week  later,  Me- 
lanchthon  wrote  of  many  changes  he  had  made,  and 
asked  for  another  revision.  Luther's  anxiety  may 
be  imagined  when  this  was  followed  by  a  silence  of 
three  weeks,  and,  although  he  knew  that  his  friend 
was  preoccupied,  he  was  not  disposed  to  suppress 
his  indignation  when  the  silence  was  broken.  After 
the  Confession  had  been  presented  to  the  Diet  on 
the  25th  of  June,  Luther  wrote :  "  I  am  exceedingly 
glad  to  have  lived  to  this  hour,  in  which  Christ  has 
been  preached  in  so  glorious  a  Confession."  *  His 
statement  that  he  could  not  have  trodden  so  gently, 
indicates  no  differences  with  respect  to  the  substance, 
but  only  to  the  form  of  the  teaching.  What  Me- 
lanchthon  was  wont  to  plead  for,  as  though  its  ac- 
ceptance would  be  a  favour,  Luther  demanded  as 
an  ambassador  of  Christ.  Nor  would  he  have  hesi- 
tated to  sharpen  the  antithesis  by  stating  some 
points  more  specifically,  which  Melanchthon  clothed 

1  De  Wette,  4  :  17  sq. 

*  Ib.,  71.  "  Mihi  vehementer  placet  vixisse  in  hanc  horam,  qua 
Christus  per  suos  tantos  confessores  in  tanto  congressu  publics  est 
praedicatus  confessione  plane  pulcherrima." 


Coburg  and  Augsburg  297 

in  general  terms.  He  rejoiced  in  the  manner  in 
which  his  opponents  had  been  thwarted  with  respect 
to  the  prohibition  concerning  preaching. 

"  They  thought,"  he  wrote,  "  that  they  had  gained  a 
great  point  in  having  the  preaching  interdicted  by  the 
Emperor  ;  but  the  infatuated  men  did  not  see  that  by 
this  written  Confession,  this  doctrine  is  preached  more 
and  is  more  widely  diffused  than  it  could  have  been  had 
ten  preachers  done  it."  * 

One  man  among  the  friends  of  the  Confession  did 
not  participate  in  the  general  exultation.  That  man 
was  its  composer.  With  a  deep  sense  of  his  respon- 
sibility for  negotiations  still  pending,  he  was  full  of 
anxiety.  Luther  gently  chided  Melanchthon  for 
his  fears. 

"  In  private  conflicts  I  am  the  weaker  and  you  the 
stronger,  but  in  public  matters  you  are  what  I  am  in 
private  affairs.  For  you  despise  your  own  life  while  you 
fear  for  a  public  cause  ;  but  I  am  of  a  peaceful  mind  in 
public  matters,  since  I  know  the  cause  to  be  just  and 
true,  and  to  belong  to  Christ  and  God,  although  as  a 
private  Christian  I  am  compelled  to  pale  and  tremble. 
Hence  I  am  almost  a  secure  spectator,  and  take  little 
account  of  these  fierce  and  menacing  adversaries.  If 
we  fall,  then  Christ  falls  with  us.  Be  it  so  !  I  would 
sooner  fall  with  Christ  than  stand  with  the  Emperor."  * 

Veit  Dietrich,  at  the  same  time,  drew  a  beautiful 
picture  of  Luther's  courage  and  devotional  habits  in 
a  letter  sent  Melanchthon  for  his  further  support. 

1  De  Wettc,  4  :  82  sf.  *  72.,  62  sq. 


298  Martin  Luther  [i483- 

"  The  remarkable  firmness,  cheerfulness,  faith,  and 
hope  of  the  man  I  cannot  sufficiently  admire.  These  he 
nourishes  by  diligent  meditation  upon  God's  word.  Not 
a  day  passes  that  he  does  not  devote  three  hours,  and 
those  the  hours  most  suitable  for  study,  to  prayer.  Once 
I  happened  to  hear  him  praying.  '  I  know,'  he  said, 
'  that  Thou  art  our  God  and  Father  ;  I  am  sure,  there- 
fore, that  Thou  wilt  destroy  the  persecutors  of  thy  child- 
ren ;  if  not,  the  danger  is  Thine  as  well  as  ours.  We 
have  been  compelled  to  meet  it  ;  defend  us,  then  !  '  In 
almost  these  very  words  I  heard  him  pray,  as  he  stood 
up  and  spake  with  a  clear  voice."  ' 

No  settlement  of  the  doctrinal  questions  in  dis- 
pute was  anticipated  by  Luther.  That  the  adher- 
ents of  Rome  would  not  yield  he  was  confident,  and 
he  knew  that  the  representatives  of  the  evangelical 
cause  could  not.  His  sole  care  was  not  the  wrath 
of  enemies,  but  the  timidity  of  Melanchthon,  and 
the  danger  of  unwarranted  concessions  that  this 
brought.  Once,  when  Melanchthon  wrote  him  of 
Eck's  acceptance,  under  certain  qualifications,  of 
the  formula  "  Men  are  justified  by  faith  alone,"  pre- 
ferring the  statement  "  they  are  justified  by  grace 
and  faith,"  and  at  the  same  time  suggested  that 
Eck  did  not  understand  the  meaning  of  the  terms, 
Luther  wrote  sharply:  "  Oh,  that  you  had  not  forced 
him  to  lie!  "  * 

When  the  work  of  the  Diet  was  over,  and  the 
danger  of  perilous  concessions  seemed,  for  the  time, 
to  have  passed,  he  congratulated  Melanchthon  and 
his  associates  in  glowing  words : 

1  C.  £.,  2  :  158  sy.  *  DC  Wette,  4 :  145  sy. 


Coburg  and  Augsburg          299 

"  You  have  confessed  Christ,  you  have  offered  peace, 
you  have  obeyed  the  Emperor,  you  have  borne  injuries, 
you  have  been  loaded  with  blasphemies,  you  have  not 
rendered  evil  for  evil  ;  in  short,  you  have  worthily  con- 
ducted a  holy  work  of  God — as  becometh  saints  ;  I  will 
canonise  you  as  faithful  members  of  Christ ;  and  what 
greater  glory  can  you  seek  ?  " 

Almost  at  the  last  moment,  however,  vigilant 
friends  at  Augsburg  suggest  to  Luther  new  suspicions 
concerning  Melanchthon.  At  once  he  informs 
Melanchthon  of  the  charge,  and  adds:  "  I  would 
sooner  believe  you  than  them  "  ;  but  asks  an  imme- 
diate explanation,1  and,  lest  this  should  not  be 
enough,  writes  to  Jonas: 

"  I  know  the  tricks  of  Eck.  I  am  almost  bursting 
with  wrath  and  indignation.  Cease,  I  beseech  you,  to 
deal  with  them,  and  return.  They  have  the  Confession  ; 
they  have  the  Gospel.  If  they  want,  let  them  receive 
these  ;  if  not,  let  them  go  to  their  own  place."  ' 

But  the  danger  having  passed  before  the  letters 
reached  Nuremberg,  they  were  prudently  withheld 
by  the  trusted  friend  through  whom  they  were  to 
.  be  delivered. 

On  September  I4th,  Duke  John  Frederick,  the 
Electoral  Prince,  reached  Coburg  unexpectedly,  on 
his  way  from  the  Diet,  and  presented  Luther  with  a 
gold  ring,  which  proved  to  be  entirely  too  large. 
Luther's  remark,  as  it  fell  from  his  finger,  was  that 
he  was  born  to  wear  lead  or  a  halter,  rather  than 

1  De  Wette,  4  :  165.  '  /*-.  l68-  *  **"  W' 


300  Martin  Luther  [1483- 

gold.  On  the  25th,  Bucer,  who  had  been  uniformly 
repulsed  by  Melanchthon  in  all  his  approaches  at 
Augsburg,  arrived,  in  order  to  see  if  some  agree- 
ment could  not  be  reached  with  Luther  on  the 
Lord's  Supper.  He  was  received  with  every  court- 
esy. Luther  was  gratified  that  since  Marburg  de- 
cided progress  had  been  made  in  what  he  regarded 
the  right  direction. 

"  I  told  you  at  Coburg,"  he  wrote  several  months 
afterwards  to  Bucer,  "  that  I  wanted  this  dissension  set- 
tled, even  though  my  life  had  to  be  laid  down  three 
times  on  account  of  it  ;  because  I  saw  how  necessary 
association  with  you  would  be,  and  what  advantages  to 
the  Gospel  it  would  bring,  so  that  I  am  certain  that  all 
the  gates  of  Hell,  all  the  Papacy,  all  the  Turks,  all  the 
world,  and  the  flesh,  and  all  evils  whatsoever,  could  not 
do  such  harm  to  the  Gospel,  if  we  were  only  united."  ' 

The  evangelical  representatives  were  already  on 
their  return.  The  Landgrave,  in  disgust,  had  left 
precipitately,  August  6th,  creating  strong  apprehen- 
sions that  he  was  plotting  against  the  Diet,  and  that 
a  military  attack  might  be  expected  at  any  time. 
Extraordinary  precautions  against  the  danger  were 
taken.  A  preliminary  draught  of  the  Recess  was 
submitted  to  the  evangelicals  on  September  22d,  in 
which  it  was  stated  that,  as  their  Confession  had 
been  thoroughly  refuted  in  the  Confutation,  pre- 
pared by  Eck,  Faber,  Wimpina,  and  Cochlaeus,  a 
period  until  the  succeeding  April  I5th  was  allowed 
for  them  to  return  to  the  Catholic  faith.  Until  then 

1  De  Wette,  4  :  216  sq. 


Coburg  and  Augsburg  301 

they  were  prohibited  from  publishing  anything  on 
the  subjects  in  controversy.  The  sole  concession 
to  the  evangelicals  was  the  promise  of  a  general 
council.  In  reply,  they  offered  a  refutation  of  the 
Confutation,  prepared  by  Melanchthon,  known  as 
The  Apology  of  the  A  ugsburg  Confession.  The  Em- 
peror declining  to  receive  it,  it  was  afterwards  much 
more  fully  elaborated  and  published  the  succeed- 
ing spring.  When  the  Emperor  and  the  Elector 
parted  the  next  day,  the  scene  was  full  of  pathos. 

Uncle,"  said  the  Emperor,  "  I  would  not  have 
expected  this  of  you!"  The  Elector  was  too 
deeply  moved  to  reply.  The  Catholic  party,  left 
to  themselves,  continued  in  session  until  November 
iQth.  Their  counsels  were  divided;  since  the  Ger- 
man princes  and  states,  especially  in  view-  of  the 
threatened  Turkish  invasion,  were  not  ready  to  war 
upon  their  neighbours  and  kinsmen,  while  other 
members  of  the  Diet  urged  the  forcible  execution  of 
the  edicts  of  Worms  and  Spires. 

The  Elector  and  Melanchthon  reached  Luther  at 
the  castle  on  October  4th,  and  on  the  following  day 
all  started  for  Wittenberg.  Sunday  was  spent  at 
Altenburg,  where  Spalatin  was  then  pastor.  Luther 
preached,  and  during  the  course  of  the  day,  finding 
Melanchthon  labouring  in  Spalatin's  house  on  the 
Apology,  snatched  the  pen  from  his  colleague's 
hand,  with  the  remark  that  God  has  commanded 
rest,  as  well  as  labour. 

A  memorial  of  the  stay  at  Coburg,  which  Luther 
explained  in  a  letter  to  his  friend,  Spengler,1  was 

1  De  Wette,  4 :  79  sq q . 


302 


Martin  Luther 


[1530 


"  the  coat  of  arms,"  devised  as  an  emblem  of  his 
theology.  It  was  probably  engraved  on  the  ring 
presented  by  the  Electoral  Prince  at  this  time. 
Within  a  heart,  retaining  its  natural  colour,  there 
lies  a  black  cross,  to  show  that  nothing  but  faith  in 
the  Crucified  saves.  This  heart,  in  which  the  cross 
is  enshrined,  rests  upon  a  white  rose,  to  indicate 
that  joy  and  peace  are  gifts  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 
The  rose  is  in  an  azure  field,  to  declare  that  such 
peace  and  faith  are  the  beginning  of  heavenly  joys; 
and  the  whole  is  surrounded  by  a  gold  ring,  em- 
blematic of  eternity,  as  well  as  of  the  preciousness 
of  these  gifts.  Nevertheless  the  emblem  was  used 
by  Luther  before,  and  appears  upon  the  title-page 
of  the  first  edition  of  his  Confession  concerning  the 
Lord's  Supper,  published  in  1528. 


I 


-I — 1-4 


s 


MUSIC  COMPOSED  BY  LUTHER  FOR  HIS  GREAT  REFORMATION   HYMN. 

.  331) 


LUTHER  IN  1537. 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE   SCHMALKALD    LEAGUE   AND    THE    STRUGGLES 
WITH    ROME  AND   FANATICISM. 

WITH  the  pastoral  duties  of  Bugenhagen,  who 
was  sent  to  Luebeck  for  a  protracted 
period,  added  to  his  own,  Luther  undertook  a 
burden  upon  his  return  from  Coburg  that  he  was 
scarcely  able  to  bear.  The  calls  for  his  advice  and 
his  offices  as  an  arbiter  in  Church  troubles  great 
and  small  were  incessant.  So  intensely  had  he  lived 
and  laboured,  that  at  forty-seven  he  began  to  feel 
the  infirmities  of  age.  Never  afterwards  was  he  in 
robust  health.  He  suffered  frequent  attacks  of 
vertigo  and  roaring  in  his  head,  interrupting  all  reg- 
ular habits  of  work.  "  My  head  is  no  longer  equal 
to  such  labours,"  was  his  sad  remark,  when  cherished 
schemes  had  to  be  foregone. 

Preparing  for  the  worst,  in  view  of  the  final  decree 
of  the  Diet,  the  evangelical  princes  sought  his  advice 
once  more  as  to  their  right  to  resist  the  Emperor. 

303 


304  Martin  Luther  [r483- 

In  his  answer  he  modified  his  preceding  opinion  so 
as  to  place  upon  the  jurists  the  responsibility  of  de- 
ciding the  constitutional  limits,  beyond  which  the 
Emperor  could  not  demand  obedience;  although, 
in  the  absence  of  such  decision,  and  the  regular  ac- 
tion of  the  princes  and  estates,  the  Emperor  was 
still  to  be  obeyed.  Meanwhile,  against  the  protest 
of  the  Elector,  Ferdinand  had  been  elected  "  King 
of  the  Romans,"  and  charged  with  the  authority  of 
the  Emperor  in  the  administration  of  affairs  in  Ger- 
many. In  making  this  protest,  the  Elector  acted 
against  Luther's  advice,  who  preferred  to  risk 
Ferdinand's  election  to  the  danger  of  having  John 
deposed  to  make  room  for  Duke  George  as  elector. 
An  alliance  was  formed  by  the  evangelicals,  March 
29,  1531,  in  "  The  Schmalkald  League,"  combining 
all  the  Lutheran  princes  and  states,  with  the  four 
cities  that  had  presented  the  Tetrapolitan  Confes- 
sion at  Augsburg,  into  a  strong  military  confedera- 
tion. The  League  was  strengthened  by  an  alliance 
with  the  Catholic  Dukes  of  Bavaria,  who  were 
hostile  to  Ferdinand's  election.  Treaties  were 
made  the  following  year  with  Denmark  and  France, 
while  England's  silent  approval  was  understood. 
Pressed  by  the  growing  importance  of  the 
League,  and  never  relieved  from  the  threatened 
invasion  of  the  Turks,  the  "  Peace  of  Nuremberg  " 
was  conceded  by  the  Emperor,  guaranteeing,  until 
the  convening  of  a  diet  or  general  council,  religious 
liberty  to  the  confederates,  upon  the  stipulation  that 
they  would  allow  no  innovations  beyond  those  ad- 
mitted in  the  Augsburg  Confession  and  the  Apology. 


PROXIMV5-A-  SVA1MO  -FE  RDNANDV5  •  CAESARE  -  CARLO 
REX-ROAIANORVM  -  5IC-T  VL1T-  ORA-J2ENAS 
AET  -  SYAE  -  XXIX 
ANN-M-.D  -XXXI 


FERDINAND  I. 

FROM  AM  ENOftAVIMO  BY  BEHAM. 


1535]         The  Schmalkald  League         305 


During  the  progress  of  these  political  negotiations, 
Luther  in  several  publications  '  exposed  the  errors 
that  the  Diet  of  Augsburg  had  promulgated,  and 
made  a  strong  appeal  to  the  people  against  the 
war  that  his  enemies  were  contemplating.  When 
attacked  by  an  anonymous  writer,  who  misrepre- 
sented him  as  inciting  to  insurrection,  he  repelled 
the  charge  in  his  book  Against  the  Assassin  at  Dres- 
den." Luther  may  or  may  not  have  known  that  his 
antagonist  was  none  other  than  Duke  George.  At 
any  rate,  he  had  thus  another  difficulty  with  the 
Duke  to  settle,  who,  according  to  his  custom,  laid 
his  grievances  before  the  Elector.  Radicalism  once 
more  claimed  attention,  in  his  book,  written  in  1532, 
Against  the  Sneaks  and  Hedge  Preachers*  It  was  a 
warning  against  those  who,  under  the  plea  of  the 
universal  priesthood  of  believers,  claimed  that  the 
exercise  of  the  ministerial  office  is  allowed  all  Christ- 
ians, and  that,  therefore,  the  Church  regulations 
setting  men  apart  for  this  work  are  a  remnant 
of  the  Papacy.  A  controversy  also  broke  out  at 
Nuremberg,  where  Osiander  attacked  the  general 
Absolution,  and  Luther's  services  were  employed  to 
bring  peace.  The  Elector's  commandant  at  Witten- 
berg, having  been  known  to  be  guilty  of  immorality, 
was  resolutely  excluded  from  the  communion. 
Much  correspondence  and  many  interviews  were  oc- 
casioned by  this  delicate  but  decided  exercise  of 
the  pastoral  office. 

Luther  lost  his  mother,  June  30,  1531.  His  sec- 
ond son,  Martin,  was  born  November  pth  of  the  same 

1  Erlangen,  25:  i,  5L  * /*-,  »9  'ft-          '&-  3»:  213  ft- 


306  Martin  Luther  [i483- 

year,  and  his  youngest  son,  Paul,  January  28,  1533. 
The  declining  health  of  the  Elector  summoned  him 
several  times  to  his  bedside  during  a  critical  illness 
early  in  1532.  After  seeming  recovery,  the  Prince 
was  stricken  with  apoplexy,  and  died,  in  his  sixty- 
fifth  year,  August  16,  1532.  His  son  and  successor, 
John  Frederick,  was  on  more  intimate  terms  with 
Luther,  and,  by  his  unflinching  courage  in  confessing 
the  faith,  in  peril  of  life  and  in  protracted  imprison- 
ment, amidst  the  trials  that  followed  Luther's  death, 
deserves  to  be  honoured  as  one  of  the  greatest 
heroes  of  the  Reformation.  His  wife,  Sybilla,  also 
took  an  active  interest  in  everything  pertaining  to 
the  cause,  and  was  an  occasional  correspondent  with 
Luther. 

Zwingli's  projects  of  reformation  meanwhile  had 
met  with  a  disastrous  end  in  the  battle  of  Cappel, 
October  u,  1531,  in  which  he  was  among  the  slain. 
Luther  compared  his  fate  with  that  of  Muenzer,  and 
regarded  it  as  a  divine  judgment.  "  Not  that  we 
rejoice,"  he  writes,  "  at  their  calamity,  but  from 
our  hearts  lament  it."  ' 

Much  to  his  displeasure,  Luther  was  compelled  to 
give  an  opinion  in  September,  1531,  concerning  the 
proposed  divorce  of  Henry  VIII.  from  Catherine  of 
Aragon,  aunt  of  the  Emperor.  Catherine  was  older 
than  Henry,  had  been  his  brother's  widow,  and  was 
forced  upon  him,  with  the  Pope's  dispensation,  by 
his  father,  Henry  VII.,  in  an  arrangement  which  he 

1  De  Wette,  4  :  352 :  "  Nicht  dass  wir  uns  freuen  ihres  Ungliicks, 
das  uns  von  Herzen  leid  ist,  und  alle  Zeit  gewesen  ;  sondern  dass 
wir  das  Zeugniss  der  Wahrheit  Gottes  nicht  lassen  konnen." 


1535]         The  Schmalkald  League         307 

openly  repudiated  on  coming  of  age,  but  in  which 
he  afterwards  acquiesced.  There  was  no  question 
about  the  entire  irregularity  of  the  marriage  accord- 
ing to  Canonical  Law.  Clement  VII.,  while  at  war 
with  the  Emperor,  was  favourable  to  Henry's  peti- 
tion, but  when  peace  followed,  his  refusal  to  grant 
the  divorce  was  absolute.  An  attempt  was  made 
by  Henry  to  create  a  sentiment  in  his  favour  by  an 
accumulation  on  his  side  of  opinions  from  univers- 
ities throughout  all  Europe.  Dr.  Robert  Barnes,  a 
convert  to  Lutheranism,  represented  Henry's  cause 
at  Wittenberg.  Luther's  answer  was  most  decided : 
"  If  the  adversaries  carry  the  King  with  them,  let 
our  men  try,  with  all  their  might,  at  least  to  keep 
the  Queen  from  consenting  in  any  way  to  the 
divorce.  Let  her  die  rather  than  become  an  ac- 
complice in  such  a  crime."  ' 

The  accession  of  John  Frederick  to  the  Electorate 
was  followed  by  new  activity  in  visitations,  the  pre- 
paration of  Church  Constitutions,  and  the  reorgan- 
isation of  the  University.  Luther's  ill-health 
prevented  him  from  active  participation  in  the 
visitations,  although  his  counsel  was  constantly 
employed.  A  Church  Constitution  was  prepared 
for  Wittenberg  in  1533,*  defining  it  as  the  metro- 
polis of  Saxony,  and  its  pastor  as  Chief  Superintend- 
ent. The  regulations  are  of  a  more  permanent 
character  than  in  the  preceding  Orders,  although 
everything  still  has  reference  to  a  possible  accept- 
ance of  the  evangelical  faith  by  the  bishops,  and  the 
restoration  of  their  supervision.  The  Margrave  of 

1  De  Wette,  4  :  306.  *  Richter,  i.,  220  sqq. 


308  Martin  Luther 

Brandenburg  and  the  Council  of  Nuremberg  en- 
trusted the  preparation  of  a  common  Order  for  their 
churches  to  Osiander  and  Brenz,  who  submitted  it 
to  the  thorough  revision  of  the  Wittenberg  faculty. 
It  was  published  the  same  year,  1533,  and  became 
one  of  the  most  influential  Lutheran  Orders.1  The 
revised  statute  of  the  University  made  the  exposi- 
tion of  the  Scriptures  the  chief  duty  of  every  member 
of  the  theological  faculty,  and  particularly  mentioned 
the  Epistle  to  the  Romans,  the  Gospel  of  John,  the 
Psalms,  Genesis,  and  Isaiah  as  topics  for  lectures. 
The  first  doctors  of  divinity,  under  the  new  Order, 
received  their  titles  with  much  ceremony,  and  a 
largely  attended  banquet.  They  were  Bugen- 
hagen,  Cruciger,  and  the  Hamburg  superintendent, 
yEpinus. 

Unwearied  in  his  efforts  to  prevent  the  spread  of 
the  evangelical  cause,  Duke  George  was  ever  falling 
beneath  the  censure  of  Luther's  pen,  whose  words 
stung  him  to  the  quick.  An  order  that  the  citizens 
of  Leipzig  should  receive,  on  Easter,  1533,  the  com- 
munion in  one  form,  in  order  that  the  Lutherans 
might  be  known  by  their  refusal  to  comply,  occa- 
sioned a  request  for  his  advice.  In  a  private  letter, 
which  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Duke,  he  declared 
that  no  one  convinced  that  the  Lord's  Supper 
should  be  received  in  both  forms,  could  receive  it 
otherwise,  without  doing  violence  to  conscience.1 
The  title  "  apostle  of  the  devil"  having  been  ap- 
plied to  George,  he  complained  to  the  Elector  that 
Luther  was  instigating  his  subjects  to  rebellion. 

1  Richter,  i.,  176  sgy.  *  De  Wette,  4  :  443  sqq. 


1535]         The  Schmalkald  League         309 

When  called  to  account  by  John  Frederick,  Luther 
published  his  defence,1  in  which  he  disclaimed  any 
attempt  to  interfere  with  George's  exercise  of  his 
rights  as  a  lawful  ruler.  But,  he  continued,  if,  in 
this  letter,  Duke  George  was  called  by  such  name, 
this  was  not  saying  too  much. 

"  We  know  well  that,  before  the  world,  Duke  George 
is  invested  with  princely  honour,  and  is  a  noble  prince 
of  the  Empire  ;  but  before  God,  and  in  spiritual  things, 
we  concede  him  no  honour,  unless  it  be  that  of  Pilate, 
Herod,  and  Judas,  who  condemned  and  slew  Christ  and 
His  apostles  because  of  God's  Word." 

Advance  sheets  of  a  violent  defence  of  George 
having  been  received,  Luther  anticipated  it  by  A 
Short  Answer  to  Duke  George's  Next  Book*  In  1 534 
the  controversy  threatened  to  break  out  once  more, 
when  Luther  was  reported  to  have  asked  the  con- 
gregation to  pray  against  the  Duke.  That  he  had 
ever  made  such  a  request,  he  emphatically  denied. 

Relieved  by  Bugenhagen's  return  of  his  duty  of 
filling  the  pulpit  of  the  Parochial  Church,  Luther 
conducted  a  service  every  Sunday  in  his  house,  in 
which  he  expounded  the  Gospel  for  the  day.  It 
attracted  not  only  a  large  number  of  friends,  but 
also  of  strangers  who  visited  Wittenberg.  Reduced 
to  writing  by  some  of  the  listeners,  this  series  of 
sermons  constitutes  the  famous  House  Postils.*  At 
the  same  time  he  was  devoting  his  chief  attention, 
as  a  university  teacher,  to  a  new  exposition  of  the 
Epistle  to  the  Galatians,  which,  as  published  in 

1  Erlangen,  31  :  227  sqq.  *  Id.,  269  sqq.  *  Ib.,  1-6. 


310  Martin  Luther  [1483- 

1535,'  has  been  termed  "  Luther's  Dogmatics  and 
Ethics,  upon  the  Basis  of  Justification  by  Faith 
Alone."  For  his  barber,  Peter,  he  wrote,  in  1534, 
A  Simple  Way  to  Pray* 

Notwithstanding  the  bitter  experience  of  the 
Peasants'  War,  Anabaptism  had  continued  to  spread. 
The  rejection  of  infant  baptism  was  only  one  of  its 
characteristics.  The  real  principle,  from  which  all 
the  peculiarities  of  its  advocates  proceeded,  was 
that  of  the  Zwickau  prophets.  They  undervalued 
the  authority  of  the  written  Word,  and  professed  to 
have  new  and  immediate  revelations.  They  made 
much  of  regulations  concerning  mere  externals, 
such  as  the  cut  of  the  clothing,  eating  and  drink- 
ing and  laughing;  repudiated  the  magistracy,  and 
denied  the  right  of  individuals  to  possess  property. 
Muenster,  in  Westphalia,  became  in  1534-35,  in 
spite  of  Luther's  earnest  warnings,  the  scene  of  their 
most  extravagant  procedures.  The  reformatory 
movement,  under  Rottman,  was  diverted  from  its 
course  by  their  emissaries,  and  the  pastor  himself 
became  a  proselyte  and  preached  polygamy.  Under 
John  Bockelson  of  Leyden,  and  Jan  Matthiesen, 
the  most  radical  form  of  communism  was  advocated 
in  the  name  of  religion.  Thither  congregated  their 
persecuted  co-religionists  from  all  quarters.  Death 
inflicted  with  brutal  cruelty  was  the  penalty  of  those 
of  the  citizens  who  persisted  in  resistance  to  their 
lawless  schemes.  For  sixteen  months  the  place 
withstood  a  siege  from  the  forces  of  the  Bishop  of 
Muenster,  supported  by  all  the  power  of  the  Em- 

1  Op.  ex.,  24-5.  *  Ib.,  23  :  214  sqq. 


1535]         The  Schmalkald  League         311 

peror,  and  reinforced  by  the  Protestants,  who,  by 
their  co-operation  in  the  effort  to  suppress  fanaticism, 
emphasised  their  utter  repudiation  of  radicalism. 
Terrible  were  the  privations  endured  by  those  be- 
sieged, and  most  severe  was  the  punishment  meted 
to  those  who  surrendered.  Upon  the  capture  of 
the  city,  June  25,  1535,  the  Roman  Catholic  power 
was  completely  re-established. 

A  less  serious  outbreak  of  fanaticism  was  that  of 
which  Michael  Stiefel,  pastor  at  Lochau,  was  guilty, 
who,  by  arithmetical  calculations,  inferred  from  the 
Apocalypse  that  the  end  of  the  world  would  occur 
October  19,  1533,  at  eight  o'clock  in  the  morning. 
The  importunate  efforts  of  Stiefel  to  convert  him  to 
this  belief,  Luther  answered  by  stating  that  he  pre- 
ferred to  expect  that  Christ  might  come  at  any  hour, 
and  warned  his  friend  of  the  snare  into  which  he  was 
falling  by  his  mathematical  calculations.1  Against  the 
prohibition  of  the  magistrates,  Stiefel  assembled  his 
congregation  early  in  the  morning  of  the  appointed 
day ;  but,  when  the  hour  for  the  Lord's  appearance 
had  passed,  the  officers,  who  were  patiently  waiting, 
arrested  and  conducted  him,  a  somewhat  wiser  man, 
to  Wittenberg.  "  Michael,"  said  Luther,  "  has 
had  a  small  trial ;  but  it  will  not  hurt  him ;  on  the 
contrary,  thank  God !  he  will  be  the  better  for  it." 

A  bold  stroke  of  great  political  significance  was 
made  by  the  Landgrave,  when,  without  the  support 
of  the  Elector  of  Saxony,  and  against  the  protests 
of  Luther,  ever  advocating  peace  to  the  very  farthest 
limit,  he  carried  to  a  successful  conclusion  a  plan  to 

1  De  Wette,  4  :  463. 


312  Martin  Luther  [i483- 

restore  Wuertemberg  to  his  friend,  the  exiled  Duke 
Ulrich.  No  one  was  more  rejoiced  by  the  result 
than  was  Luther,  although  the  enterprise  had  been 
contrary  to  his  best  judgment. 

The  growing  influence  of  the  Schmalkald  League 
made  its  friendship  desirable  on  the  part  of  all 
arrayed  against  the  Emperor,  or  jealous  of  his 
power.  Francis  I.  invited  Melanchthon  to  France, 
that  an  agreement  between  the  French  and  the 
Lutheran  theologians  might  be  reached.  Although 
this  scheme  was  favoured  by  Luther,  the  Elector's 
opposition  could  not  be  overcome.  Henry  VIII. 
did  not  allow  any  feeling  of  resentment  he  may 
have  harboured  because  of  the  decision  concerning 
his  divorce  and  the  scathing  attacks  of  Luther  to 
interfere  with  his  ambition,  not  only  to  be  enrolled 
as  a  member  of  the  League,  but  even  to  be  its  head. 
His  approaches  were  favoured  by  the  flattering  in- 
troduction in  which  Melanchthon  (much  to  Luther's 
disgust)  had  dedicated  to  the  English  King  the  edi- 
tion of  his  Loci  of  1535.  The  Elector  met  all  pro- 
positions by  the  answer  that  the  acceptance  of  the 
Augsburg  Confession  and  the  Apology  was  an  in- 
dispensable condition  of  admission  into  the  League. 
At  the  sessions  of  the  League  in  December,  1535,  a 
commission  of  three  English  theologians,  Edward 
Fox,  Bishop  of  Hereford,  Nicholas  Heath,  after- 
wards Archbishop  of  York,  and  Dr.  Robert  Barnes, 
accordingly  appeared,  and  proceeded  thence  to  Wit- 
tenberg, where  they  spent  the  greater  portion  of  the 
months  of  January,  February,  and  March,  1536,  in 
frequent  consultations  with  the  theologians  there,  in 


1535]         The  Schmalkald  League          313 

the  course  of  which  they  discussed  the  Augsburg 
Confession,  article  by  article,  and  considered  elabo- 
rate papers  prepared  for  its  explanation.  On  the 
doctrinal  articles  agreement  was  found  to  be  much 
easier  than  upon  those  concerning  abuses.  The 
commission  was  embarrassed  by  the  necessity  of 
consulting  the  King  at  every  step ;  and,  finally,  the 
negotiations  were  broken  by  unsurmountable  ob- 
stacles encountered  while  considering  the  abuses  of 
the  Mass.  Resumed  in  1538  by  a  Lutheran  com- 
mission to  England,  they  were  fruitless,  so  far  as 
the  end  immediately  in  view  was  concerned,  but 
had  a  permanent  influence  upon  the  subsequent 
history  of  the  English  Church.1 

1  For  details  and  documents  see  my  Lutheran  Movement  in  Eng- 
land and  its  Literary  Monuments  (Philadelphia,  1890). 


MARTIN  BUCER. 


CHAPTER    X 

VERGERIUS;  THE   WITTENBERG  CONCORD;  AND 
THE   SCHMALKALD   ARTICLES 

THE  long-delayed  Council  was  at  last  in  prospect. 
Cardinal  Vergerius  was  sent  to  Germany  as 
papal  nuncio  to  make  the  necessary  preparations, 
and,  by  intercourse  with  the  German  princes,  to 
learn  the  exact  condition  of  things  there.  Although 
the  University  had  again  removed  from  Wittenberg 
to  Jena  because  of  the  plague,  Luther,  as  before, 
remained  at  his  home,  and,  on  account  of  the  light- 
ness of  the  epidemic,  was  spared  the  sad  scenes 
through  which  he  had  passed  in  1527.  Here  Ver- 
gerius braved  whatever  peril  there  was  on  his  way 
from  Halle  to  Berlin  by  tarrying  overnight  (Novem- 
ber 6,  1 535)  at  the  neighbouring  castle  of  the  Elector. 
Luther  declined  his  invitation  to  supper,  but  ac- 
cepted one  from  the  governor  of  the  castle,  sent  at 
the  cardinal's  request,  to  breakfast  there  the  next 
morning.  He  treated  the  entire  transaction  with 


CARDINAL  VERQERIUS. 

FROM  AN  ENGRAVING  BY  HENDRIK  HONDIUS. 


1537]         The  Schmalkald  Articles         315 

humour.  Shaved,  in  order  that  the  appearance  of 
youth  might  terrify  his  adversary,  dressed  in  his 
best  attire  because  it  was  Sunday,  with  a  gold  chain 
around  his  neck,  a  ring  on  his  finger,  and  a  priest's  cap 
on  his  head,  he  set  out  for  the  castle  with  Bugen- 
hagen  as  his  companion.  As  they  entered  the  car- 
riage, he  exclaimed  :  ' '  Here  go  the  Pope  of  Germany 
and  Cardinal  Pomeranus."  It  was  a  different  inter- 
view from  that  which  he  had  with  Cajetan  at  Augs- 
burg, seventeen  years  before.  Vergerius  was  received 
with  courtesy,  but  the  weapons  of  Italian  diplomacy 
were  foiled  by  those  of  German  Gemuethlichkeit. 

The  cardinal  was  entertained  with  accounts  of  Lu- 
ther's interesting  children  and  his  hopes  of  his  eldest 
son,  while  inquiries  concerning  the  negotiations  with 
the  English  were  skilfully  averted  by  the  expression 
of  surprise  at  the  interest  still  taken  at  Rome  in  the 
affairs  of  Henry  VIII.  "  During  the  whole  meal," 
he  writes,  "  I  played  the  genuine  Luther."  The 
Wittenbergers,  he  said,  did  not  need  a  council,  for 
their  position  with  respect  to  the  Gospel  was  now 
fixed ;  but  it  was  needed  by  the  world,  in  order  that 
all  might  learn  to  know  what  truth  and  what  error 
are.  In  their  requests  for  such  a  council,  he  did  not 
think  the  Papists  in  earnest ;  and  if  a  council  were 
called,  the  only  subjects  they  would  care  about 
having  discussed,  would  be  those  of  monks'  cowls, 
priests'  tonsures,  etc.  "  He  has  hit  the  nail  on  the 
head,"  said  Vergerius  in  subdued  voice  to  a  com- 
panion. "  Nevertheless,"  said  Luther,1  "'I  am 

1  De  Wette,  4:  648,  655  ;  C.  >?.,  2:  782,  896,  973,  979,  1018  ; 
Walch,  xvi.,  2293. 


316  Martin  Luther  in- 

coming to  the  Council,  and,  if  I  do  not  defend  my 
position  there,  I  will  lose  my  head."  Thirteen 
years  later,  Vergerius  abandoned  bishopric,  country, 
and  all  that  he  had,  to  become  a  Lutheran,  and 
spent  the  close  of  his  life  as  translator  and  author  of 
books  teaching  the  faith  he  had  once  sought  to  sup- 
press. In  his  reports  to  Rome  of  his  interview, 
there  are,  however,  no  indications  that  he  was  al- 
ready shaken  in  his  position.  He  speaks  of  Luther 
as  "  a  beast,"  and  shows  how  well  Luther's  strategy 
had  succeeded  by  his  statement  that,  while  Luther 
was  slightly  over  fifty,  his  appearance  was  so  fresh 
that  he  would  scarcely  be  taken  for  a  man  who  had 
passed  beyond  forty. 

The  personal  presence  of  the  Emperor  at  Rome 
was  needed  before  the  indefinite  purposes  of  Paul 
III.  ripened  into  the  decree,  which  he  published, 
calling  the  Council  at  Mantua,  for  the  23d  of  May, 
1537.  While  these  negotiations  were  transpiring, 
those  between  Bucer  and  the  Wittenberg  theolo- 
gians, after  passing  through  several  critical  stages, 
had  reached  a  successful  termination.  The  confer- 
ence, arranged  to  meet  at  Eisenach,  and  then,  on 
account  of  the  state  of  Luther's  health,  at  Grimma, 
was  finally  transferred  to  Wittenberg,  and  met  in 
Luther's  house.  With  interruptions  because  of  his 
illness,  it  was  in  session  from  May  22d  to  29th.  On 
the  very  eve  of  this  meeting,  Luther's  friendly  atti- 
tude towards  Bucer  received  a  severe  shock,  and  his 
indignation  was  aroused  by  the  publication  of  the 
correspondence  between  Zwingli  and  CEcolampa- 
dius,  with  an  introduction  by  Bucer,  inconsistent,  as 


1537]         The  Schmalkald  Articles         317 

Luther  thought,  with  any  change  in  his  doctrine  of 
the  Holy  Supper.  A  preliminary  interview,  in 
which  Bucer  was  received  with  marked  coldness,  re- 
sulted in  a  reconciliation;  and  the  conference,  in 
which  Bucer  and  Capito  were  the  chief  representa- 
tives of  the  other  side,  proceeded.  An  agreement 
was  soon  reached  that  "  with  the  bread  and  wine, 
the  Body  and  Blood  of  Christ  are  truly  and  substan- 
tially present,  offered  and  received."  As  to  the 
communion  of  the  unworthy,  they  could  not  agree, 
Bucer  maintaining  that  the  unbelieving  do  not  re- 
ceive the  Body  of  Christ,  and  Luther,  that  they 
receive  it  to  their  condemnation.  "  Concerning 
this,"  said  Luther,  "  we  will  not  quarrel.  Since 
such  is  your  position,  we  are  one,  and  we  recognise 
and  receive  you  as  our  dear  brethren  in  the  Lord, 
so  far  as  concerns  this  article."  With  tears  Bucer 
and  Capito  received  Luther's  hand.  The  Augsburg 
Confession  and  the  Apology  were  accepted  as  cor- 
rect exhibitions  of  doctrine.  In  the  midst  of  the 
conference  Ascension  Day  came,  and  Luther 
preached  on  the  text,  "  Go  ye  into  all  the  world," 
etc.,  with  a  vigour  and  an  eloquence  that  aston- 
ished even  his  nearest  friends.  In  the  evening  he 
entertained  the  entire  party  at  his  house,  and  pro- 
vided for  them  vocal  and  instrumental  music.  On 
Sunday,  Alberus,  one  of  Bucer's  party,  preached  in 
the  morning,  Bucer  in  the  afternoon,  and  Luther  in 
the  evening.1  Capito  and  Bucer  communed  with 

1  Wittenberg  Concord  in  English,  Book  of  Concord,  ii.,  253  sqq.  ; 
for  history  see  authorities  there  cited.  Original  documents  in  C.  Jl.t 
3 :  75  *qq- 


318  Martin  Luther  [i483- 

the  congregation.  As  they  left  the  next  day, 
Luther  said  :  "  Let  us  bury  the  past  and  roll  the 
stone  upon  it." 

With  great  disfavour  the  Elector  received  the 
Papal  Bull  convening  the  Council  to  be  held  at 
Mantua.  In  it  he  saw  only  another  plot,  and 
wished  to  decline  its  further  consideration.  But 
Luther,  supported  by  all  his  colleagues  and  the 
jurists,  urged  the  importance  of  an  acceptance.  A 
declinature  he  thought  justifiable  only  in  case  the 
evangelicals  were  summoned  to  hear,  without  being 
also  heard.  The  League  was  called  upon  to  meet 
at  Schmalkald,  in  February,  1537.  Luther  was 
commissioned  to  prepare  a  paper  setting  forth 

"  with  Scriptural  arguments,  what  in  all  the  articles  which 
he  had  hitherto  taught,  he  had  now  to  assert  before  a 
council,  and  in  view  of  his  final  departure  from  this 
world  to  God's  Judgment,  and  from  which,  without  re- 
spect to  peace  or  war  and  in  spite  of  danger  to  body  and 
property,  he  could  not  think  of  receding." 

This  paper,  after  submission  to  the  other  theo- 
logians, was  to  be  transmitted  to  the  Elector.  Thus 
originated  the  so-called  Schmalkald  Articles,  which 
were  in  the  Elector's  hands  early  in  January.  In 
these  Articles,  the  antithesis  with  the  Roman  Catho- 
lics is  most  sharply  emphasised.  The  irenic  tone  of 
the  Augsburg  Confession  is  changed  for  the  notes  of 
uncompromising  war.  They  are  intended  to  break 
off  all  negotiations  with  the  Papacy  once  and  forever. 
The  Preface  closes  with  the  words:  "  O  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  do  Thou  Thyself  convoke  a  council,  and  d? 


1537]         The  Schmalkald  Articles         319 

liver  Thy  servants  by  Thy  glorious  advent.  The 
Pope  and  his  adherents  are  lost.  They  wish  Thee 
not."  The  first  section  treats  of  those  things  con- 
cerning which  there  is  no  controversy;  it  consists  of 
a  restatement  of  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity.  The 
second  comprises  the  doctrines  of  the  Office  and 
Work  of  Christ.  Here  the  declaration  is  made: 
"  Of  this  article,  nothing  can  be  yielded  or  surren- 
dered, even  though  heaven  and  earth  and  all  things 
should  sink  to  ruin."  The  teaching  in  the  Roman 
Church  concerning  the  Mass,  and  the  Invocation  of 
Saints,  and  the  Power  of  the  Pope,  are  shown  to 
detract  from  the  merits  and  authority  of  Christ. 
In  the  third  section  those  articles  are  considered, 
with  respect  to  which  the  Papacy  is  said  to  be  in- 
different, but  which,  nevertheless,  are  fundamental 
to  the  controversy.  The  chief  place  here  is  given 
to  the  treatment  of  Repentance.1 

Reaching  Schmalkald  on  February  7th,  Luther 
found  there  a  large  and  influential  assembly  of 
princes,  representatives  of  cities,  and  theologians, 
together  with  the  Vice-Chancellor  of  the  Empire 
and  a  papal  nuncio.  While  the  statesmen  were  oc- 
cupied for  a  number  of  days  with  political  negotia- 
tions, the  theologians  were  idle.  An  "  opinion,"  it 
is  true,  was  prepared  as  to  the  policy  of  representa- 
tion at  the  general  council,  and  Luther  preached 
several  times;  but  he  was  restive  at  the  inaction. 
At  last  he  was  seized  by  a  most  severe  attack  of 
calculus  that  threatened  to  be  fatal.  For  eight 

1  Schmalkald  Articles  in  English,  Book  of  Concord,  i.,  303  sqq. ; 
in  German,  Erlangen,  25  :  109  sqq. 


320  Martin  Luther  [1483. 

days  he  was  in  agony.  The  Elector  visited  his  sick- 
bed, and  assured  him  that,  if  taken  away,  his  wife 
and  children  would  be  provided  for.  The  thought 
of  dying  away  from  Wittenberg  distressed  him,  and 
he  begged  to  be  taken  home.  Accompanied  by  a 
skilful  physician,  and  his  friends  Bugenhagen,  My- 
conius,  and  Spalatin,  he  was  sent  from  Schmalkald 
in  a  carriage  on  the  28th  of  February.  Every  mo- 
tion of  the  carriage  increased  his  suffering,  and  on 
the  first  day  they  proceeded  but  a  few  miles.  But 
the  ride  did  more  for  him  than  the  remedies  of  the 
physician.  Suddenly  that  night  the  cause  of  the 
trouble  was  removed,  all  his  pain  left  him,  and  be- 
fore daybreak  he  had  written  a  letter  to  Melanchthon. 
As  one  of  Luther's  party  hastened  back  to  Schmal- 
kald to  convey  the  good  news  he  rode  past  the 
lodging-place  of  the  papal  nuncio,  crying  out  in 
Latin:  tl  Luther  us  vivit !  "  (Luther  lives).  The 
words  have  been  transmitted  to  posterity  as  a 
watchword.  Reaching  Gotha  the  next  day,  he 
wrote  to  his  wife,  ascribing  his  recovery  to  the 
many  prayers  that  had  been  offered  on  his  behalf. 
But  the  relief  was  but  temporary.  The  following 
day  he  was  prostrated  againr  and  for  several  days 
he  lingered  near  the  gates  of  death.  He  made  his 
will  and  every  preparation  for  his  funeral.  He 
reached  home  March  I4th,  greatly  reduced  in 
strength ;  for  a  week  his  limbs  could  scarcely  bear 
the  weight  of  his  body. 

Luther's  Articles  were  never  submitted  to  the 
statesmen  assembled  at  Schmalkald,  nor  were  they 
ever  adopted  in  any  assembly  of  theologians.  The 


1537]         The  Schmalkald  Articles         321 

most  of  the  theologians  had  signed  them  at  Witten- 
berg before  they  were  sent  to  the  Elector.  At 
Schmalkald  other  names  were  added,  yet  by  no  one 
in  a  representative  capacity,  but  only  privately. 
The  term  Schmalkald  Articles  is  a  misnomer. 
They  are  a  private  confession  of  Luther,  with  the 
approval  of  those  whose  names  are  attached.  An 
explicit  declaration  concerning  the  power  of  the 
Pope  and  the  rights  of  bishops  was  called  for  by  the 
presence  at  Schmalkald  of  the  papal  nuncio,  and 
the  refusal  of  the  conference  to  receive  him.  This 
declaration,  prepared  by  Melanchthon,  and  approved 
by  the  League,  is  published  as  an  Appendix  to  the 
Schmalkald  Articles.  Melanchthon  had  caught  the 
spirit  of  the  meeting,  and  wrote  with  more  than 
ordinary  decision. 

Against  Luther's  advice,  the  League  decided  to 
have  nothing  to  do  with  the  proposed  council,  the 
chief  reason  assigned  being  that  it  was  not  to  be 
held  on  German  soil.  For  a  long  time  Luther  con- 
tinued to  hold  the  opinion  that  the  evangelical 
princes  had  made  a  great  mistake,  and  the  question 
has  been  raised  in  later  years  as  to  whether  in  case 
his  advice  had  been  followed  the  Schmalkald  War 
would  have  arisen.  It  became  manifest,  therefore, 
that  if  the  council  were  held,  it  would  be  composed 
exclusively  of  partisans  of  the  Pope.  Postponed 
from  Mantua  to  Vicenza,  the  war  between  France 
and  the  Emperor  first,  and  then  the  necessity  of 
concentrating  all  efforts  upon  repelling  the  Turks, 
rendered  a  general  council  even  of  those  faithful  to 
Rome  impossible. 


Martin  Luther  [1537 

An  interesting  episode  of  the  convention  at 
Schmalkald  was  the  letter  which  Bucer  brought 
thither  from  the  Swiss  to  Luther.  It  was  received 
and  answered  in  a  cordial  spirit.  Bucer  followed 
Luther  on  his  homeward  way,  in  order  to  have,  if 
possible,  the  conference  with  him  that  had  been 
prevented  by  his  severe  illness.  They  had  a  conver- 
sation at  Gotha.  A  letter,  in  the  following  Decem- 
ber, expresses  Luther's  great  hope  that  an  entire 
reconciliation  may  yet  be  reached.  New  advances 
from  the  Bohemian  Brethren  were  also  received  in 
the  most  friendly  manner,  and  Luther  tried  to 
minimise  the  points  of  difference  that  still  separated 
them. 


DUKE  HENRY  OF  SAXONY. 

CHAPTER   XI 

NEW   TRIUMPHS   AND   TRIALS 

WITH  his  restoration  to  health,  all  Luther's 
energy  was  again  thrown  into  his  work  at 
Wittenberg.  Of  the  privilege  afforded  him  by  a 
generous  increase  of  salary,  and  of  relief  from  Uni- 
versity duties,  he  did  not  avail  himself.  A  course 
of  lectures  on  Genesis  was  begun,  which  continued 
with  many  interruptions  until  the  November  before 
his  death.  The  best  fruits  of  his  studies  and  of 
his  varied  experience  are  crowded  into  these 
comments,  that  touch  an  extraordinary  range  of 
subjects,  and  make  the  volume  containing  them 
among  the  most  instructive,  as  well  as  most  uni- 
formly interesting  of  his  works.1  This  work  has 
been  termed  his  swan's  song,  with  allusion  to  the 
adage  that  just  before  death  the  swan  sings  her 
sweetest  strains. 

Bugenhagen  having  been  relieved  from  his  labours 

1  Op.  ex.,  1-9. 

323 


324  Martin  Luther  [i483- 

for  two  years,  in  order  that  he  might  organise  the 
reformation  of  the  churches  in  Denmark,  Luther 
assumed  once  more  his  pastoral  duties,  preaching 
regularly  three  times  a  week,  and  even  oftener. 
Much  time  was  devoted  to  the  preparation  of  the 
book  Of  the  Councils  and  the  Church,  which  appeared 
in  1539.'  This  is  another  of  his  most  thoroughly 
elaborated  books.  A  great  portion  of  the  argument 
is  historical,  in  which  he  reviews  the  various  councils, 
and  shows  that  they  never  originated  an  article  of 
faith,  but  only  declared  what  articles  were  found  in 
Holy  Scripture. 

"  There  is  no  council  or  Father,"  he  says,  "  in  whom 
we  can  find  or  from  which  we  can  learn  the  entire  Christ- 
ian doctrine.  That  of  Nice  treats  only  of  the  fact  that 
Christ  is  true  God  ;  that  of  Constantinople,  that  the  Holy 
Ghost  is  God  ;  that  of  Ephesus,  that  Christ  is  not  two 
persons,  but  one  ;  that  of  Chalcedon,  that  Christ  has  not 
one,  but  two  natures.  These  are  the  four  chief  councils, 
and  yet  they  hav.e  only  these  four  doctrines.  Neverthe- 
less, this  is  not  the  Christian  Faith.  ...  In  short, 
put  all  the  councils  and  all  the  Fathers  together  and 
even  then  you  cannot  derive  from  them  the  entire  doc- 
trine of  the  Christian  Faith.  If  the  Holy  Scriptures 
were  not  retained,  the  Church  would  not  long  abide  by 
the  councils  or  the  Fathers." 

The  apprehension  he  expressed,  when  he  thought 
that  he  was  dying  at  Schmalkald,  that  hereafter  dis- 
sensions would  arise  among  those  who  had  most 
cordially  co-operated  at  Wittenberg,  was  based  upon 
the  knowledge  of  troubles  that  had  already  arisen, 

1  Erlangen,  252  :   19  sqq. 


1539]        New  Triumphs  and  Trials        325 

and  amidst  which  he  had  soon  most  earnestly  to 
contend.  Melanchthon's  timidity  and  concessions, 
as  well  as  his  singular  zeal  in  amending  and  reform- 
ulating definitions  and  official  statements,  occasioned 
frequent  suspicions.  The  new  edition  of  his  Loci  of 
1535  offered  abundant  material  for  the  attacks  of 
those  disposed  to  be  critical.  Conrad  Cordatus, 
visiting  the  lecture-room  of  Cruciger,  was  greatly 
exercised  by  his  statement,  which  he  defended  by 
an  appeal  to  Melanchthon,  that  repentance  is  an 
indispensable  condition  of  justification.  Cordatus 
understood  them,  by  their  expression  sine  qua  non, 
to  mean  that  repentance  contributes  towards  justifi- 
cation, while  they  meant  only  to  affirm  that  repent- 
ance was  inseparably  connected  with  justification. 

If  Cordatus  was  a  narrow  and  dogmatical,  but 
thoroughly  conscientious  opponent,  in  Dr.  Jacob 
Schenck  of  Freiburg  controversial  ambition  seemed 
to  be  the  determining  motive.  He  laid  a  complaint 
before  the  Elector  charging  Melanchthon  with  teach- 
ing that  where  the  ruler  so  commanded,  the  Lord's 
Supper  should  be  received  in  but  one  form. 
Changes  in  the  statement  of  the  doctrine  of  the 
Freedom  of  the  Will  dissatisfied  Chancellor  Brueck. 
Nor  were  charges  wanting  of  secret  inclination  to 
Zwinglianism,  and  unwarranted  concessions  in  the 
conference  at  Cassel.  It  had  thus  become  fashion- 
able to  try  to  expose  errors  of  Melanchthon.  This 
was  the  very  opportunity  that  Agricola  wanted  for 
renewing  his  obsolete  controversy  of  ten  years  be- 
fore. For  years  he  had  been  serving  as  pastor  at 
Eisleben;  but,  in  answer  to  Luther's  invitation  to 


326  Martin  Luther  [1483- 

participate  in  the  deliberations  of  the  theologians  to 
whom  the  Schmalkald  Articles  were  submitted,  he 
resigned  his  pastorate  and  came  to  Wittenberg  with 
his  wife  and  nine  children,  as  Luther's  guest,  greatly 
to  the  amazement  of  the  Wittenberg  household. 
Luther  generously  decided  to  give  his  visitor  em- 
ployment, and,  therefore,  charged  him  with  filling 
his  place  both  in  the  pulpit  and  in  the  lecture-room 
during  his  absence  at  Schmalkald.  Thus  entrusted 
with  a  most  influential  position,  he  used  it  for  vin- 
dicating his  imagined  wrongs  in  the  old  controversy. 
In  several  sermons  and  in  a  series  of  theses,  which 
he  had  printed  for  private  distribution,  he  not  only 
reasserted  his  rejection  of  the  preaching  of  the  Law, 
but  collected  a  number  of  passages  from  the  writings 
of  Luther  and  Melanchthon,  which  he  freely  criti- 
cised and  opposed  to  one  another.  Luther's  first 
course  was  to  preach  on  the  relation  of  the  preaching 
of  the  Law  to  that  of  the  Gospel,  with  most  careful 
suppression  of  every  personal  allusion.  Afterwards 
he  reprinted  Agricola's  theses,  as  those  "  of  a  certain 
Antinomian."  This  he  followed  with  six  public 
discussions  of  the  theses,  still  carefully  avoiding  any 
mention  of  Agricola's  name.1 

"  They  preach  beautifully,"  he  said,  "  of  grace  and 
the  forgiveness  of  sins  and  redemption,  but  avoid  the 
doctrine  of  sanctification  and  the  new  life  in  Christ,  in 
order  that  men  may  not  be  terrified  but  enjoy  perpetual 
comfort.  When  they  ought  to  say  :  '  You  cannot  be  a 
Christian  if  you  be  an  adulterer,  a  fornicator,  a  drunkard,' 
etc.,  they  say  :  '  If  you  be  such  only  believe  in  Christ, 

1  Erlangen,  32  :   i  sqq. ,  64  sqq. 


1539]        New  Triumphs  and  Trials        327 

and  you  need  not  fear  the  Law,  for  Christ  has  entirely 
fulfilled  it  for  us.'  " 

For  years  there  was  irritation,  Agricola  privately 
renouncing  his  published  statements,  and  then  hesi- 
tating about  making  a  public  disclaimer,  and  his 
wife  seeking  with  her  tears  to  mitigate  Luther's 
judgment  of  her  husband.  Some  relief  was  gained 
by  his  removal  to  Berlin  as  court  preacher ;  but,  in 
spite  of  his  professed  change  of  mind,  Luther  con- 
tinued to  distrust  him. 

The  complete  argument  of  Luther  in  this  contro- 
versy with  Agricola  is  the  best  answer  that  can  be 
given  to  the  charge  of  his  enemies,  so  frequently 
repeated,  concerning  the  famous  Pecca  fortiter  pass- 
age, in  a  private  letter  to  Melanchthon,  August  I, 
1521.'  Letters  between  confidential  friends,  and 
not  written  with  the  thought  that  any  other  eye  will 
see  them,  must  not  be  interpreted  or  criticised  as 
though  the  expressions  belonged  to  a  formal  theo- 
logical treatise.  Melanchthon,  in  distress  of  con- 
science, had  been  passing  through  an  experience 
similar  to  that  of  Luther  in  the  cloister.  He  was 
looking  within  himself  for  some  ground  of  the  grace 
of  God.  Hence  Luther  impresses  upon  him  that  all 
his  hopes  for  God's  favour  must  rest  solely  upon  the 
merits  of  Christ,  and  nothing  else.  To  the  end  of 
life  he  must  be  content  to  appear  before  God's  bar 
— there  was  no  help  for  it — as  a  sinner  and  nothing 
more.  "  Be  a  sinner,"  he  writes,  i.  e.,  Remember 
with  all  your  distress  that  it  is  so,  and  that,  with  all 

1  De  Wette,  2  :  37. 


328  Martin  Luther  [i483- 

efforts  to  avoid  sin,  some  sin  still  remains,  and 
utterly  prevents  any  hope  of  God's  favour  on  the 
ground  of  your  intrinsic  holiness.  But  "  sin 
boldly,"  *.  e, ,  Do  not  be  discouraged  that  you  must 
constantly  find  yourself  a  sinner;  but,  since  you 
have  Christ,  look  up,  with  all  your  sin,  in  the  full 
confidence  that,  for  the  sake  of  His  merits,  and  not 
because  of  any  hoped-for  moral  improvement,  you 
are  forgiven  and  adopted  as  God's  child. 

Through  Ludwig  Rabe,  a  citizen  of  Mayence, 
who  boarded  at  Luther's  table,  and  was  threatened 
with  punishment  by  Archbishop  Albrecht,  Luther's 
old  antagonist,  he  was  led  to  write  him  several  severe 
letters,  in  which  the  Archbishop  was  accused  of  the 
murder  of  his  confidential  financial  agent,  John 
Schoenitz,  or  Schantz.  Luther  told  the  Archbishop 
that  he  deserved  a  gallows  ten  times  as  high  as  the 
castle  of  Giebichenstein  in  which  his  victim  had  been 
imprisoned.  Begged  to  desist  from  such  attacks  by 
the  bishop's  cousin,  the  Elector  of  Brandenburg, 
his  answer  was  that  the  house  of  David  had  many 
degenerate  scions,"  the  college  of  apostles  had  a 
Judas,  and  the  company  of  angels  a  devil.1 

Meanwhile  the  political  situation  in  Germany  was 
that  of  a  drawn  battle.  The  Frankfort  Convention 
of  1539  resulted  in  a  truce  for  fifteen  months. 
Lutheranism  was  strengthened  by  the  deaths  in 
J535  °f  Joachim  of  Brandenburg,  and,  in  1539,  of 
George  of  Saxony.  In  Brandenburg  the  new  Elec- 
tor first  tolerated,  and  then,  in  1539,  formally  ac- 
cepted the  Reformation.  The  Church  Constitution, 

1  De  Wette,  4  :  614  sqq.,  676  sqq. 


DUKE  ALBERT    OF  PRUSSIA. 

FROM  AN  OLD  ENGRAVING. 


1539]        New  Triumphs  and  Trials        329 

prepared  to  carry  out  his  plans  of  reorganisation,  is 
among  the  most  conservative  of  Lutheran  orders, 
retaining  all  the  ceremonies  that  are  not  antagonistic 
to  evangelical  teaching.1  The  opinion  of  Luther 
concerning  this  Order  was : 

"  If  the  Margrave  and  Elector  will  have  the  Gospel 
preached  in  its  purity,  without  human  additions,  and  the 
two  sacraments  administered  according  to  their  institu- 
tion, and  will  discontinue  the  intercession  of  saints,  and 
the  carrying  of  the  sacrament  in  procession,  and  masses 
for  the  dead,  and  abolish  holy  water,  and  consecrated 
salt  and  herbs,  and  will  have  pure  responsories  and 
hymns  sung  in  processions,  then  let  him  go  on  in  God's 
Name,  whether  he  have  a  silver  or  a  golden  cross  car- 
ried, or  wear  a  cap  and  gown  of  velvet,  silk,  or  linen  ; 
and  if  one  cap  and  gown  be  not  enough,  let  them  put  on 
three,  like  Aaron  ;  and  if  one  procession  be  not  enough, 
let  them  go  round  seven  times,  like  Joshua  ;  and  if  the 
Margrave  should  care  about  dancing  with  the  music  of 
harps  and  cymbals,  as  David  did  before  the  ark,  I  am 
satisfied.  For  such  things  neither  add  anything  to  the 
Gospel  nor  remove  anything  from  it,  if  only  they  be  not 
regarded  as  necessary  for  salvation  or  made  a  matter  of 
conscience." ' 

The  season  of  Whitsunday,  1539,  was  one  of 
triumphant  thanksgiving  for  Luther,  when  the  suc- 
cessor of  Duke  George,  his  brother  Henry,  who, 
with  his  wife,  had  been  for  years  an  earnest  friend 
of  the  Reformation,  brought  him  to  Leipzig,  and 
the  pulpits  of  all  the  churches  in  that  city  were  filled 

1  Known  as  Mark-Brandenburg  of  1540.     Richter,  i.,  323  sqq. 
*  De  Wette,  5  :  235  sqq. 


33°  Martin  Luther  [i539 

with  evangelical  preachers.  This  was  followed 
shortly  afterwards  by  a  systematic  visitation,  on 
which  Jonas,  Cruciger,  and  Spalatin  were  em- 
ployed, and  which  in  its  revelations  of  the  incom- 
petency  of  the  priests  surpassed,  if  possible,  even 
the  visitation  in  the  Elector's  domains.  The  Re- 
formation was  accepted  also  in  a  portion  of  Mecklen- 
burg in  1538,  and  in  Brunswick-Calenberg  in  1540. 

In  1540,  Dr.  Robert  Barnes,  the  English  theolo- 
gian, who  had  long  been  in  sympathy  with  the 
doctrine  of  the  Reformers,  and  had  spent  much 
time  at  Wittenberg,  a  frequent  guest  at  Luther's 
table,  and  a  member  of  the  commission  to  Witten- 
berg in  1536,  had  to  pay  the  penalty  for  his  faith  by 
martyrdom  in  the  fires  of  Smithfield.  At  the  stake 
he  made  a  full  confession  of  his  faith,  which  Luther 
had  translated  into  German,  and  published,  with 
an  introduction,  at  Wittenberg. 

"  It  is  an  especial  joy  to  us,"  he  says,  "  to  hear  that 
our  good,  pious  table-companion  and  guest  has  been  so 
graciously  called  upon  by  God  to  shed  his  blood  for  His 
dear  Son's  sake,  and  to  become  a  holy  martyr.  Thanks 
be  to  the  Father  of  our  dear  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  that  He 
has  permitted  us  to  see  again,  as  in  the  beginning,  the 
times  when  Christians  who  have  eaten  and  drunk  with 
us,  are  taken  before  our  eyes  to  become  martyrs,  which 
means  to  go  to  Heaven  and  become  saints.  .  .  .  Dr. 
Barnes  himself  often  told  me  :  '  My  king  cares  nothing 
for  religion.'  But  he  so  loved  his  king  and  country  that 
he  was  ready  to  endure  everything,  and  was  always 
meditating  how  to  help  England  ;  for  he  was  ever  hoping 
that  his  king  would  turn  out  well  at  the  last."  ' 

1  Erlangen,  63  :  396  sqq. 


LUTHER  AT  SIXTY. 


DR.  PAUL  LUTHER. 


CHAPTER    XII 

THE   LANDGRAVE   OF   HESSE 

THE  endorsement  of  the  secret  marriage  of  Philip, 
Landgrave  of  Hesse,  during  the  lifetime,  but 
with  the  consent,  of  his  first  wife,  was  the  greatest 
blunder  in  Luther's  career.  When  less  than  twenty 
years  old,  Philip  had  been  married  to  the  daughter 
of  Duke  George,  and  her  moral  and  physical  infirm- 
ities he  alleged  as  his  excuse  for  infidelity  to  his 
marriage  vows.  Adultery  was  so  ordinary  a  vice 
among  princes  that  Philip's  course  formed  no  great 
exception,  and  occasioned  no  special  remark.  But 
the  conscience  of  the  Landgrave  was  uneasy  as  he 
read  in  the  Bible  the  divine  judgments  upon  those 
who  lead  an  impure  life.  Unwilling  to  return  to  his 
wife  for  reasons  that  he  offered  frankly  to  disclose, 
in  case  Luther  would  insist,  he  proposed  as  a  remedy 
for  his  alleged  irresistible  temptations  to  sensuality, 
to  follow  the  Old  Testament  example  of  taking  a 
second  wife.  As  early  as  1526  he  had  submitted 

331 


33 2  Martin  Luther  [1483- 

to  Luther  the  general  question  of  the  permissibility 
of  polygamy,  without  reference  to  any  particular 
case,  and  received  the  reply  that  it  was  absolutely 
unjustifiable.  Melanchthon's  opinion  in  1531  as  to 
the  divorce  of  Henry  VIII.,  in  which  he  had  pro- 
nounced against  the  divorce,  but  suggested  the  ex- 
pedient of  Old  Testament  polygamy,  encouraged 
Philip.1  A  severe  attack  of  illness  was  the  con- 
sequence of  the  mental  anguish  through  which  he 
then  passed.  Dr.  Sayler,  his  physician,  having 
approved  the  plan,  Bucer,  the  versatile  theological 
diplomat,  was  summoned  from  Strassburg,  and 
measures  discussed  for  gaining  the  approval  of  the 
Wittenberg  theologians.  Margaret  de  Sale,  a 
young  lady  whom  he  had  met  at  the  court  of  his 
sister,  the  Duchess  of  Rochlitz,  and  a  distant  rela- 
tive, it  was  said,  of  Luther's  wife,  consented  to 
marry  Philip  in  case  such  approval  were  obtained. 
The  Landgrave  threatened  that,  if  the  approval  were 
withheld,  he  would  appeal  to  the  Emperor.  What 
Philip  wanted  Bucer  to  procure  was  a  document 
expressing  the  public,  or,  if  that  were  impossible, 
the  private  opinion  of  Luther  and  Melanchthon, 
that  such  second  marriage,  without  a  divorce  from 
the  former  wife,  was,  under  the  peculiar  circum- 
stances, valid. 

On  Bucer's  presentation  of  the  case  at  Witten- 
berg, Luther's  attitude  to  the  case  of  Henry  VIII., 
as  well  as  his  subsequent  relations  to  Philip,  showed 
that  political  motives  had  little  consideration.  His 
entire  anxiety  was  to  aid  the  Landgrave  to  a  purer 

1  C,  R.t  2 : 520-537. 


The  Landgrave  of  Hesse         333 

life,  to  relieve  him  from  distress  of  conscience,  and 
to  save  his  soul.  The  error  into  which  Luther  fell 
may  be  traced  to  several  causes.  His  monastic  life 
had  given  him  a  wrong  conception  of  marriage,  from 
the  influence  of  which,  despite  his  efforts,  he  never 
entirely  escaped.  He  thought  of  it  chiefly  as  a 
remedy  for  sensuality,  and  that,  without  a  peculiar 
divine  gift,  no  pure  celibacy  is  possible.  As  Philip 
maintained  that  he  was  without  such  peculiar  gift, 
and,  according  to  his  solemn  asseveration,  was  un- 
able to  live  with  his  wife,  yet  could  secure  no 
divorce,  the  inference  of  the  validity  of  a  second 
marriage  was  inevitable.  To  this  was  added  a  depre- 
ciation of  woman — the  remnant  of  his  earlier  years 
— which  suggested  that  while  such  marriage,  as  a 
very  rare  exception,  might  be  tolerated,  nevertheless, 
for  the  sake  of  avoiding  offence,  it  could  be  allowed 
only  under  the  sanction  of  the  utmost  secrecy;  so 
that  while  before  God  Margaret  would  be  his  lawful 
wife,  she  was  to  be  known  before  the  world  only  as 
his  concubine !  Still  another  motive  was  the  reluct- 
ance to  regard  anything  expressly  sanctioned  in  the 
Old  Testament  as  a  sin.  We  can  well  understand 
how  Bucer,  in  arguing  the  case,  knew  how  to  cite  a 
passage  in  Luther's  treatise  on  The  Babylonian  Cap- 
tivity, in  which,1  as  an  extreme  case,  a  second  mar- 
riage, even  without  a  divorce,  is  allowed  to  a  wife 
who  is  in  similar  spiritual  danger. 

Luther  and  Melanchthon,  accordingly,  with  the 
concurrence  of  Bucer  and  the  Hessian  theologians, 
in  their  opinion  of  December  10,  1539,  declared  that 

1  Weimar,  vi.,  558  sq. 


334  Martin  Luther  [1483- 

monogamy  is  the  original  institution,  and  that,  but 
for  man's  corrupt  nature,  no  other  marriage  would 
be  allowed  ;  at  the  same  time  they  maintain  that  the 
New  Testament  nowhere  absolutely  annuls  the  per- 
mission of  polygamy  given  in  the  Old.  They  argue, 
therefore,  that  dispensations  permitting  a  plurality 
of  wives  are  still  possible,  and  yet  that  the  cases  in 
which  they  are  justifiable  are  so  exceedingly  peculiar 
and  rare  that  such  dispensations  should  not  be  pub- 
lished or  be  made  known  to  the  people  generally. 
Expressing  their  deep  regret  at  the  impure  life  that 
the  Landgrave  has  hitherto  led,  they  implore  him 
to  reform,  and  approve  only  in  casu  necessitatis  a 
marriage  before  witnesses  sworn  to  absolute  secrecy, 
while  the  world  would  be  allowed  to  draw  its  own 
inferences ! ' 

With  this  remarkable  document  Bucer  hastened 
to  the  Elector  at  Weimar,  whose  indignation  was 
thoroughly  aroused  when  he  read  it.  Not  only  was 
he  humbled  that  the  evangelical  cause  was  thus  dis- 
graced, but  was  wounded  that  the  Wittenberg  theo- 
logians should  have  so  far  forgotten  what  was  due 
their  sovereign  as  to  have  reached  so  unusual  a 
decision  on  a  question  involving  him,  without  first 
informing  him  of  what  was  in  contemplation.  To 
the  Landgrave  he  wrote  begging  him,  notwithstand- 
ing the  approval  he  had  secured,  to  disregard  it  and 
proceed  no  farther.  When,  however,  Bucer  pro- 
duced the  written  consent  of  the  Landgrave's  wife, 
the  Elector  urged  that,  if  the  marriage  could  not  be 
prevented,  it  be  secret.  When  the  ceremony  was 

1  De  Wette,  5  :  237  sqq. 


i54o]         The  Landgrave  of  Hesse         335 

performed  at  Rothenburg,  in  March,  1540,  Melanch- 
thon  accompanied  Bucer  as  a  witness.  The  very 
presence  of  Melanchthon,  even  if,  as  is  sometimes 
affirmed,  he  had  been  taken  thither  by  strategy,  was 
an  additional  guarantee  to  the  deceived  woman  that 
her  course  was  not  disapproved  by  those  to  whom 
she  had  looked  for  spiritual  advice. 

The  transaction  could  not  long  be  kept  secret. 
Rumours  of  the  marriage  were  soon  afloat,  traceable, 
it  was  said,  to  Margaret  and  her  mother.  Philip 
was  anxious  to  meet  these  rumours  by  publishing 
the  marriage,  and  defending  it  as  a  matter  of  con- 
science. But  both  the  Elector  and  Luther  demanded 
that  no  testimony  concerning  it  should  be  given  by 
those  who  actually  knew  the  facts,  Luther  pleading 
that  whatever  pertained  to  confession  for  spiritual 
advice  was  forever  confidential,  and  declaring  that 
what  is  given  as  a  private  opinion  is  rendered  null 
and  void  by  publication.  Never  would  he  publicly 
defend  the  Landgrave's  marriage!  The  Elector 
also  declared  that,  in  case  Philip  were  called  to  ac- 
count for  the  matter,  he  could  not  rely  upon  any  aid 
from  those  with  whom  he  stood  in  political  alliance.' 

Upon  Melanchthon  the  anxiety  bore  most  heavily. 
The  responsibility  of  meeting  the  issue  in  the  con- 
ference which  the  Emperor  had  called  at  Hagenau, 
and  for  which  he  knew  that  the  chief  burden  of  pre- 
paring all  important  papers  would  fall  to  his  lot, 
oppressed  him  until,  in  June,  1540,  he  fell  danger- 
ously ill  at  Weimar.  Luther  was  hastily  summoned, 
and  found  Melanchthon  at  the  very  brink  of  the 

1  Letters  of  the  Elector  in  C.  R.,Z'-  1041-1054. 


336  Martin  Luther 

grave.  Consciousness  had  gone.  His  eyes  were 
set.  The  physician  sent  by  the  Elector,  the  same 
whose  skill  had  been  employed  when  Luther  was  ill 
at  Schmalkald,  pronounced  him  beyond  all  human 
help.  It  was  one  of  the  great  moments  of  Luther's 
life.  Appalled  at  the  scene,  he  exclaimed:  "  O 
God,  how  has  the  devil  injured  this  Thy  instru- 
ment! "  Then  he  went  to  the  window  and  prayed. 
All  the  promises  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  concerning 
answers  to  prayer  that  he  could  recall  were  repeated 
and  woven  into  the  prayer.  This  done,  he  turned 
to  the  bed,  and  grasped  his  friend  by  the  hand  with 
the  words:  "  Be  of  good  cheer,  Philip,  thou  shalt 
not  die!  Although  God  might  justly  slay  thee,  yet 
he  wills  not  the  death  of  the  sinner."  Regaining 
consciousness,  the  sick  man  asked  that  he  should 
not  be  detained,  but  Luther  assured  him  that  there 
was  still  much  for  which  the  Lord  needed  him. 
When  food  was  ordered  it  was  at  first  refused.  But 
a  stronger  will  prevailed  when  he  was  told  :  "  Philip, 
you  must  eat,  or  I  will  excommunicate  you." 
"  The  prayer  of  the  Church,"  said  Luther  after- 
wards, "  works  great  miracles.  Three  persons  in 
our  day  it  has  raised  from  the  dead,  viz.,  me,  who 
have  often  been  mortally  sick,  my  wife,  Katie,  and 
Philip  Melanchthon,  who  lay  sick  unto  death  at 
Weimar  in  1540."  '  Melanchthon  himself  testified: 
"  If  he  had  not  come,  I  should  certainly  have  died." 
But  the  trouble  occasioned  by  the  unfortunate 
procedure  was  not  over  with  Melanchthon's  re- 
covery. It  shook  the  confidence  of  their  associates 

1  Erlangen,  59 :  3  ;  cf.  i6.,  25. 


The  Landgrave  of  Hesse         337 

in  the  judgment  of  the  chief  reformers.  It  became 
the  subject  of  acrimonious  correspondence,  with 
charges  and  countercharges.  It  deprived  them  of 
the  unity  and  enthusiasm  with  which  they  should 
have  encountered  their  enemies.  "It  is  highly 
probable,"  says  Kolde,  "  that  the  beginning  of  the 
decline  of  Protestantism  as  a  political  power  coin- 
cides with  this  marriage  transaction  of  the  Prince  of 
Hesse." 


CHARLES  V.  AND  FERDINAND. 


CHAPTER   XIII 

DIET   OF  RATISBON;   CONTROVERSIES  WITH   THE 
JURISTS,    EMPEROR,    AND    POPE 

THE  Frankfort  truce  about  to  end,  all  eyes  were 
turned  towards  Hagenau,  where  another  con- 
ference was  to  be  held.  Because  of  Melanchthon's 
disablement,  Luther  remained  at  Eisenach,  within 
easy  reach.  The  result  was  a  reference  of  the  ques- 
tions involved  to  a  Diet  to  be  held  at  Worms.  This 
diet,  which  met  in  January,  1541,  promised  import- 
ant gains  for  the  Protestant  side.  The  Electors  of 
Brandenburg  and  the  Palatinate  had  been  added  to 
their  ranks.  The  Electoral  Archbishop  of  Cologne 
was  preparing  to  take  a  similar  step,  while  his  col- 
league of  Treves  could  not  be  regarded  as  an  enemy 
of  the  evangelical  faith.  Eleven  men  had  been 
selected  on  each  side  as  the  commission  to  decide 
theological  questions.  The  change  of  the  religion 
of  their  rulers  transferred  three  from  the  Catholic  to 
the  evangelical  camp.  But  the  deliberations  had 

338 


DUKE  MORITZ  OF  SAXONY. 

FROM  A  PAINTING  BY  CRANACH  THE  YOUNQEB. 


1545]  Diet  of  Ratisbon  339 

only  fairly  begun  when  they  were  postponed  to 
another  diet  to  be  held  at  Ratisbon  (Regensburg). 
In  the  proceedings  of  this  body  a  conciliatory  spirit 
prevailed  that  framed  a  basis  of  union  by  the  adop- 
tion of  a  formula  that  seemed  to  approach  most 
nearly  the  Lutheran  position  on  justification,  and 
was  yet  susceptible  of  the  opposite  interpretation. 
Towards  this  result  two  men  particularly  co-operated, 
viz.,  Cropper,  the  theologian  of  the  Archbishop  of 
Cologne,  who  was  inclined  to  the  evangelicals,  and 
Martin  Bucer,  the  mouthpiece  of  the  Landgrave, 
whose  fears  rendered  him  favourable  to  compromises 
with  Rome  which  contrast  strangely  with  his  earlier 
radical  tendencies.  The  imminent  danger  from  the 
Turks  made  the  Emperor  anxious  for  a  peaceable 
solution  of  the  difficulties. 

The  decision  reached  concerning  justification  was 
"  that  the  sinner  is  justified  by  living  and  efficacious 
faith."  Freely  acknowledging  and  commending 
the  good  intention  of  its  composers,  Luther  warned 
against  such  a  deceptive  compromise,  especially 
when  unaccompanied  by  any  repudiation  of  the 
errors  hitherto  current.1  To  win  Luther's  support 
a  special  commission  was  sent  with  the  Prince  of 
Anhalt  at  its  head,  by  whose  arguments  they  hoped 
to  remove  his  scruples.  They  were  successful  in 
obtaining  from  him  a  qualified  endorsement.  In 
case  no  restriction  was  placed  on  the  preaching  with 
respect  to  the  articles  agreed  upon,  he  was  ready  to 
approve  them,  trusting  that,  with  this  much  gained, 
the  concession  of  what  still  remained  must  follow. 

1  De  Wette,  5  :  353  sqq.,  363  sqq.,  369  sqq. 


340  Martin  Luther  [i483- 

But  the  Emperor  could  promise  nothing  more  than 
a  reference  of  the  question  to  a  future  council  for  its 
decision.  The  entire  project  was  wrecked  upon  the 
doctrines  of  the  Church  and  the  sacraments,  on 
which  agreement  was  impossible. 

During  the  absence  of  the  Archbishop  of  Mayence 
at  Ratisbon,  measures  were  taken  for  the  introduc- 
tion of  the  Reformation  into  Halle,  and  Justus 
Jonas,  under  the  protection  of  the  Elector,  was  ap- 
pointed to  superintend  the  work.  The  protests  of 
the  Archbishop,  although  most  emphatic,  were  of 
no  avail.  In  Naumburg,  where  the  people  sympa- 
thised with  the  Reformation,  the  death  of  the  bishop 
in  1541  was  followed  by  the  accession  of  Julius  von 
Pflug,  a  prominent  moderate  Catholic,  as  his  succes- 
sor. He  was  elected  by  the  chapter  of  the  cathe- 
dral, the  majority  of  whom  were  opposed  to  the 
Reformation.  Against  the  protests  of  the  Emperor 
and  of  the  Wittenberg  theologians,  who  earnestly 
questioned  his  authority  to  take  so  radical  a  step, 
the  Elector  set  aside  the  election  and  appointed  as 
bishop,  Nicholas  von  Amsdorf,  a  warm  friend  of 
Luther  and  a  man  of  aggressive  character,  although 
of  narrow  spirit.  In  the  presence  of  the  Elector  and 
his  brother,  this  Lutheran  bishop  was  consecrated 
by  Luther,  January  20,  1542,  as  the  consecrator  re- 
ported, "  without  all  chrism,  also  without  butter, 
lard,  pork,  tar,  grease,  incense,  and  coals."  '  The 
people,  as  a  part  of  the  service,  were  asked  whether 
his  selection  met  their  approval,  and  declared  their 

1  In  a  treatise :  Proper  Way  to  Consecrate  a  True  Christian 
Bishop,  1542.  Erlangen,  26  :  76-108. 


1545]  Diet  of  Ratisbon  341 

assent  by  an  affirmation  so  emphatic  that  the  Elec- 
tor was  surprised  as  well  as  gratified.  The  ancient 
hymn,  Veni  Sancte  Spiritus,  with  the  Latin  collect, 
was  chanted  by  Luther,  who  then,  with  the  other 
clergymen  present,  laid  hands  upon  the  head  of  Ams- 
dorf.  The  Te  Deum  was  sung,  and  the  new  bishop, 
seated  on  his  throne,  received  the  congratulations 
of  the  princes  and  other  prominent  persons  present. 

But  now  a  critical  danger  threatened  the  peace  of 
Saxony.  After  a  very  brief  term  of  service  as  ruler 
of  Albertine  Saxony,  Duke  Henry  had  died,  and 
had  been  succeeded  by  his  son  Maurice.  The  an- 
tagonism between  him  and  his  relative  the  Elector 
was  soon  manifest,  and  threatened  to  break  out  into 
open  war  because  of  a  dispute  concerning  their  rights 
to  the  little  town  of  Wurzen.  In  a  sharp  letter  of 
April  7,  1542,'  Luther  interposed,  admonishing  the 
princes  of  the  consequences  of  their  quarrel,  and 
telling  them  in  the  plainest  terms  that  sensible  people 
would  regard  war  about  such  an  insignificant  place 
as  Wurzen  upon  an  equality  with  the  fight  of  two 
drunken  peasants  at  a  country  inn  over  a  broken 
beer-glass,  or  of  two  fools  about  a  piece  of  bread. 
"  The  devil  will  say:  '  Look  there!  Those  are  the 
evangelical  princes  who  want  to  show  the  world  the 
way  to  Heaven,  and  yet  they  have  become  such 
fools  that  they  do  not  know  how,  with  reason  and 
justice,  to  settle  even  the  most  trifling  matters! ' 
By  the  mediation  of  the  Landgrave,  however,  the 
difficulty  was  adjusted. 

In  1541   Duke  Henry  of  Brunswick,  a  bitter  foe 

1  De  Wette,  5  :  456  sqq.  *  /£.,  45$. 


342  Martin  Luther 

of  the  Reformation,  published  a  virulent  attack  upon 
the  Protestant  princes.  Luther  received  most  un- 
favourable notice,  and  was  charged  with  having 
called  his  own  prince  "  Hans  Wurst,"  i.  e.,  "  Jack 
Sausage."  Luther  retorted  in  a  book  bearing  the 
title  of  this  nickname,1  in  which  he  turned  it  upon 
the  Duke,  and  handled  him  without  mercy.  The 
Duke  having  broken  the  peace  by  seizing  the  town 
of  Goslar,  the  Elector  and  Landgrave  drove  him 
from  his  country.  Thus  Brunswick  also  was  opened 
to  the  Reformation. 

Bucer  and  Melanchthon,  at  the  request  of  Her- 
mann von  Wied,  Elector  and  Archbishop  of  Cologne, 
having  prepared  a  Church  Constitution  for  the  re- 
formation of  the  Church  in  his  domains,  the  state- 
ments in  it  with  respect  to  the  Lord's  Supper 
proved  particularly  offensive  to  Luther,  and  almost 
occasioned  a  rupture  between  the  two  friends.2  An 
unpleasant  difference  separated  Luther  also  from 
his  early  friend  and  colleague,  Dr.  Jerome  Schurf. 
The  latter,  while  always  a  zealous  friend  of  Luther's 
doctrine,  retained  at  the  same  time  a  profound  re- 
spect for  the  Canonical  Law,  which  Luther  treated 
with  contempt.  In  1529  this  led  to  a  disagreement 
on  the  subject  of  secret  betrothals.  Schurf  also 
taught  that  it  is  unlawful  for  pastors  to  marry  after 


1  Erlangen,  26  :  i  sqq. 

*  Details  with  references  in  Koestlin's  Luther's  Theology  (English 
translation),  ii.,  185  sqq.  See  De  Wette,  5:  708  sqq.  On  "Re- 
formation of  Cologne,"  see  Varrentrapp,  Hermann  von  Wied,  Leip- 
zig, 1878  ;  Drouven,  Reformation  in  Koeln-Provinz,  Cologne,  1876; 
Lutheran  Church  Review,  xi.,  301  sqq. 


CONRAD  WIMPINA.  ANDREAS  MUSCULUS. 

JOHANN  AGRICOLA.  HIERONYMUS  SCHURF. 

FROM  ENGRAVING  IN  KREUSSLER  8   "  ANDENKEN  IN  MUNZEN." 


1545]  Diet  of  Ratisbon  343 

the  death  of  a  first  wife,  and  that  one  so  doing  dis- 
qualified himself  for  the  performance  of  any  minis- 
terial act.  Against  this  view  Luther  protested  and 
wrote.  Some  years  later,  Kling,  a  colleague  of 
Schurf,  and  known  to  be  in  sympathy  with  him, 
raised  the  question  of  the  legitimacy  of  the  children 
born  of  such  marriages.  Another  difficulty  the 
jurists  raised  was  as  to  the  validity  of  sacraments 
administered  by  those  not  ordained  by  bishops  in 
the  regular  external  succession.  Schurf  would  not 
commune  at  Wittenberg,  but  sought  the  Lord's 
Supper  from  evangelical  clergymen  with  whose  atti- 
tude towards  the  succession  he  was  satisfied.  In 
1537  there  were  sharp  conflicts  between  them.  Two 
years  later  Luther  took  the  matter  into  the  pulpit 
and  preached  against  the  jurists.  Relief  from  the 
public  discussion  of  these  questions  was  found  by 
the  establishment  of  consistories.  But  the  subject 
of  secret  betrothals  became  a  burning  question 
again  in  1544.  Luther  felt  that  the  good  name  of 
the  University  was  at  stake.  The  boldness  of  the 
young  women  of  Wittenberg  in  inveigling  the 
students  into  marriage  engagements  had  become  a 
scandal.  He  complains  that  they  took  every  occa- 
sion to  throw  themselves  in  the  way  of  the  young 
men,  even  visiting  them  in  their  rooms.  Parents 
began  to  withdraw  their  sons  from  the  University 
rather  than  have  them  entrapped.  Melanchthon's 
son,  and  a  member  of  Luther's  family,  probably  one 
of  his  nephews,  living  as  a  student  in  his  house,  were 
among  the  victims.  Regarding  the  secret  betrothal 
as  "  a  Papistical  affair  and  an  institution  of  the 


344  Martin  Luther  [i483- 

devil,"  he  attacked  it  most  vigorously  in  several 
sermons.  "  I  cast  thee,  secret  vow,  into  hell,  in  the 
Name  of  the  Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the 
Holy  Ghost!"  The  jurists  he  attacked  bitterly, 
and  explained  his  severity  by  saying:  "  I  am  angry 
and  will  be ;  for  they  are  assuming  to  themselves 
the  power  of  God."  He  carried  his  point,  both  by 
securing  the  Elector's  veto  of  the  validity  of  the 
engagement  of  a  student  whom  the  jurists  had  de- 
cided bound  by  such  secret  betrothal,  and  also  in 
the  negotiations  with  the  jurists  themselves  in  1545, 
in  which  they  agreed  that  all  betrothals  made  with- 
out the  knowledge  and  consent  of  parents  are  null 
and  void,  until  they  have  such  approval,  or  until  the 
consistory  have  decided  whether  the  opposition  of 
parents  have  just  and  sufficient  grounds.1  But  com- 
plete as  was  his  victory,  his  heart  bled  over  the  separa- 
tion of  friends  which  was  the  price  of  the  battle. 
Never  relieved  of  his  sense  of  responsibility  as  a 
preacher  of  all  the  counsel  of  God,  he  was  distressed 
by  a  growing  laxness  of  morals  that  he  noticed  par- 
ticularly at  Wittenberg,  but  also  at  other  places 
where  the  Reformation  had  triumphed.  Licentious- 
ness protected  or  even  connived  at  by  law,  he 
regarded  as  a  sin  against  which  he  could  not  suffi- 
ciently warn.  Coarse  indeed  were  the  words  in  which 
he  warned  the  Wittenberg  students  against  the  dis- 
reputable women  who  had  come  thither,  but  they 
were  sharp  and  effective,  a  desperate  remedy  for  a 
desperate  disease."  His  complaints  are  grossly  per- 


1  On  secret  betrothals,  De  Wette,  5  :  615  sqq.,  626,  669,  676;  C. 
JR. ,  5  :  586  sqq.  3  De  Wette,  5  :  560  sqq. 


1545]  Diet  of  Ratisbon  345 

verted  when  they  are  construed  as  meaning  that  the 
vices  arraigned  are  the  fruits  of  the  evangelical 
preaching.  He  recognises  explicitly  the  improve- 
ment over  the  condition  of  things  under  the  Papacy; 
but  he  was  disappointed  because,  with  the  clear 
light  of  the  Gospel  before  them,  a  much  higher 
standard  had  not  been  reached.1 

Among  all  his  severe  denunciations  none  were 
more  bitter  than  those  in  his  later  years  against  the 
Jews,  for  whose  conversion  to  Christianity  he  had 
once  hoped,  but  for  whom,  at  last,  especially  after 
some  proselytes  had  been  made  from  Christianity,  he 
entertained  no  hope,  but  consigned  them  to  God's 
judgment.  This  is  seen  in  its  most  marked  form  in 
the  treatise,  Of  the  Jews  and  their  Lies,  of  1 542.* 

The  results  of  the  Diet  of  Spires  in  June,  1544, 
were  favourable  to  the  Reformers,  whose  demands 
for  a  continuance  of  peace  were  conceded  until  a 
new  Diet  or  General  Council.  The  Protestants,  in 
turn,  incensed  at  the  persecution  of  their  brethren 
in  France  and  the  French  alliance  with  the  Turks, 
pledged  their  assistance  in  the  war  against  Francis, 
who  was  forced  to  the  Peace  of  Crespy,  September 
18,  1544,  both  Emperor  and  King  agreeing  to  unite 
in  efforts  to  restore  the  peace  of  the  Church. 

The  Pope,  indignant  at  the  decision  of  the  Diet 
of  Spires,  gave  expression  to  his  wrath  in  a  most 
severe  reprimand  addressed  to  the  Emperor,  at  the 
same  time  summoning  the  Council  of  Trent  to  meet 
March  15,  1545.  In  one  of  the  two  letters  to  Charles, 
the  Pope  informs  him  that,  by  his  approval  of  the 

1  De  Wette,  6  :  302.  *  Erlangen,  32  :  99  sqq. 


346  Martin  Luther  [1545 

action  of  Spires,  he  has  endangered  the  salvation  of 
his  soul,  charges  him  with  the  sin  of  assuming  to 
judge  in  regard  to  matters  of  faith,  a  right  which 
belongs  only  to  the  Pope,  and  of  allowing  heretics 
the  same  privilege,  and  warns  him  of  the  sad  end  of 
all  who  have  undertaken  to  assume  for  themselves 
the  prerogatives  of  priests.  The  Emperor  was  silent 
under  the  reprimand,  but  the  Elector's  urgent  re- 
quest induced  Luther  to  review  the  letter.  His 
review  bears  the  caustic  title,  Against  the  Papacy  at 
Rome,  Instituted  by  the  Devil.1  It  was  Luther's  last 
book  against  the  Papacy,  and  summarises  all  that  he 
had  previously  written.  The  book  was  written 
while  he  was  suffering  unintermitting  pains  in  his 
head,  and,  with  its  abundant  epithets,  instead  of  pro- 
moting, possibly  prejudiced  the  appreciation  of  the 
argument.  Scarcely  had  it  been  published  before 
an  Italian  pamphlet  came  to  hand  professing  to  give 
an  account  of  Luther's  death.  The  pamphlet  related 
that  he  had  died  shortly  after  receiving  the  sacra- 
ment, and  that  his  body  was  placed  on  the  altar  for 
adoration.  After  his  burial  there  was  a  terrific 
storm,  and  the  communion-wafer  was  seen  sus- 
pended in  the  air.  The  next  night  there  was  a 
great  noise  at  his  grave,  which  was  found  empty, 
and  so  pervaded  by  stifling  sulphurous  fumes  that 
no  one  could  approach.  Luther's  answer  was  to 
republish  it  with  some  remarks,1  stating  that  it 
might  be  regarded  as  a  joke,  if  it  were  not  sacri- 
legious. 

1  Erlangen,  26  :  108  sqq.  8  />.,  32  :  423  sqq. 


THE  CENTRE  OF  LUTHER'S  THEOLOGY. 


CHAPTER  XIV 
LUTHER'S  THEOLOGY 

BEFORE  recounting  the  closing  scenes  of  Lu- 
ther's life  a  survey  may  be  made  of  his  matured 
theological  teaching.  The  very  words  in  which  he 
presented  his  convictions  will  be  used  so  far  as  pos- 
sible. His  gradual  development  as  a  theologian  as 
well  as  a  religious  leader  has  been  traced.  In  estim- 
ating any  theological  statement  of  a  constantly 
growing  student  it  is  of  the  highest  importance  to 
determine  the  era  to  which  it  belongs  and  the  cir- 
cumstances under  which  it  was  uttered.  Rarely  in 
his  controversies  does  he  have  any  other  opponents 
or  critics  in  view  than  those  with  whom  he  is  then 
dealing.  He  writes  without  regard  to  posterity,  or 
to  those  who  would  be  ready  to  apply  his  language 
to  relations  entirely  different.  Hence  he  rarely 
pauses  to  modify  or  qualify.  For  the  decision  then 
made  he  feels  himself  responsible,  while  he  throws 
the  responsibility  for  the  use  or  the  abuse  of  what 

347 


348  Martin  Luther  [1483- 

he  says  upon  those  who  choose  to  assume  it. 
Nothing  is  easier,  therefore,  than  to  quote  the  very 
words  of  Luther,  and  at  the  same  time  entirely  per- 
vert his  meaning.  Like  every  thinker  who  pursues 
an  independent  course,  and  whose  opinions  gradually 
mature,  inconsistencies  and  vacillations  upon  the 
surface  occur  in  connection  with  a  growth  which  is 
nevertheless  inwardly  consistent.  With  the  com- 
pletion of  the  translation  of  the  New  Testament  his 
theological  conclusions  reach  a  relatively  fixed  form, 
although  it  must  be  remembered  that  until  the  very 
last  he  continued  to  learn  both  from  the  Holy  Script- 
ures and  from  his  experience,  and  was  always  slow 
in  forming  his  opinions,  and  until  constrained  by  the 
force  of  overwhelming  evidence,  reserved  in  express- 
ing them. 

The  relative  place  and  emphasis  of  each  doctrine 
in  the  system  of  a  great  teacher  are  as  important  as 
are  the  statements  of  doctrine  themselves.  Luther's 
theology  springs  not  directly  and  entirely  from  the 
Holy  Scriptures,  but  from  the  effort  to  state  cor- 
rectly the  truths  of  the  Christian  life  as  they  are 
tested  at  every  stage  by  the  infallible  standard  of 
the  Scriptures.  They  are  not  the  sources  of  his 
Christian  experience,  but  the  goal  to  which  this 
experience  led  and  the  spring  whence  it  drew  nour- 
ishment. His  theology  is  an  answer  to  the  one 
question:  "  What  is  meant  by  faith  in  Christ  ?" 
Its  centre  is  Christology.  Its  great  aim  is  to  unfold 
the  meaning  of  redemption,  and  to  show  how  re- 
demption is  applied.  '  There  is  but  one  article  and 
rule  in  all  theology.  He  who  does  not  have  this  at 


1546]  Luther's  Theology  349 

heart  and  observe  it  well  is  no  theologian.  This 
rule  is  true  faith  and  trust  in  Christ.  Into  this 
article  all  the  rest  coalesce,  and  without  it  the  others 
do  not  exist."  "  In  my  heart  there  dominates  but 
this  one  article,  viz.,  faith  in  my  Lord  Christ,  Who 
is  the  sole  beginning,  middle,  and  end  of  all  my 
spiritual  and  divine  thoughts  that  I  have  day  or 
night."  Upon  this  principle  he  makes  Scripture 
and  experience  the  two  tests  of  doctrine. 

"  We  have  both,  viz.,  the  certain  testimony  of  Script- 
ure, and  also  experience.  These  are  to  be  regarded  as 
the  two  witnesses  and  touch-stones  of  sound  doctrine. 
He  who  will  not  believe  these  two,  or  seeks  another,  can- 
not complain  if  he  be  led  astray.  Thank  God,  I  can 
preach  from  my  experience  that  no  work  can  help  or 
console  me  against  sin  and  the  judgment  of  God,  but 
that  Christ  alone  pacifies  and  consoles  the  heart  and 
conscience.  To  this  all  Scripture  bears  witness,  as  well 
as  the  examples  of  many  godly  men."  ' 

Thus  driven  to  the  Holy  Scriptures  by  the  neces- 
sities of  the  Christian  life,  he  makes  no  effort  to 
construct  a  symmetrical  system,  or  to  present  an  ex- 
haustive summary  of  their  contents,  but  only  at- 
tempts to  draw  from  them  answers  to  the  questions 
which  from  time  to  time  he  was  called  upon  to  give. 
The  books  of  the  Bible,  therefore,  that  are  particu- 
larly occupied  with  the  explanation  of  the  manner 
in  which  sinful  man  is  restored  to  God's  favour,  had 
to  him  a  significance  and  value  that  he  could  not 

1  Table -Talk,  Erlangen,  58:  398. 

*  Preface  to  Galatians  (1535),  Com.  Gal.,  I  :  3. 

3  On  I  Cor.  xv.  (1534),  Erlangen,  51  :   103. 


35°  Martin  Luther  [i483- 

attach  to  the  rest.  The  very  centre  of  Holy  Script- 
ure he  finds  in  the  epistles  of  St.  Paul,  particularly 
those  to  the  Romans  and  Galatians,  and  assigns  the 
first  rank  among  the  Gospels  to  that  of  St.  John, 
regarding  the  doctrine  of  these  books  the  key  to  the 
interpretation  of  all  the  rest.  His  free  language 
concerning  the  Epistle  of  St.  James,  in  the  form  in 
which  it  is  generally  quoted,  omits  the  contrast 
which  he  makes  with  what  he  regards  as  the  chief 
books  of  the  New  Testament.  His  words  are: 

"  The  Gospel  of  St.  John  and  his  First  Epistle,  the 
epistles  of  St.  Paul,  especially  those  to  the  Romans,  Ga- 
latians, and  Ephesians,  and  the  First  Epistle  of  St.  Peter, 
are  the  books  that  instruct  us  concerning  Christ  and 
teach  us  all  that  it  is  necessary  and  salutary  for  us  to 
know,  even  though  you  should  never  see  or  hear  another 
book.  In  comparison  with  these,  therefore,  the  Epistle  of 
St.  James  is  actually  nothing  but  an  epistle  of  straw,  for 
it  has  in  it  nothing  whatever  of  the  Gospel."  l 

His  thought  is  this:  If  James  be  arrayed  against 
Paul,  and  the  doctrine  of  works  be  made  the  stand- 
ard to  which  the  doctrine  of  faith  must  be  conformed, 
then,  however  useful  in  its  proper  sphere,  the  Epistle 
of  James  becomes  one  of  straw.  He  interpreted  the 
Old  Testament  by  the  New ;  the  Law  by  the  Gos- 
pel. A  single  word  of  the  Gospel  was  to  him  the 
end  of  all  controversy. 

This  same  practical  method  of  interpreting  Holy 
Scripture  solely  by  its  Christological  and  soterio- 
logical  teaching  renders  him  relatively  indifferent  to 

1  Introduction  to  New  Testament  (1522),  Erlangen,  63  :  115.  Cf. 
On  I  Peter  i.,  3,  Erlangen,  51  :  337. 


1546]  Luther's  Theology  351 

the  question  of  the  accuracy,  or  even  the  correct- 
ness, of  the  details  of  chronology,  geography,  and 
topography,  pertaining  to  the  human,  rather  than 
to  the  divine  side  of  Scripture,  and  forming  the 
human  background  for  the  statement  of  the  truths 
of  revelation,  rather  than  the  revelation  itself.  Re- 
ferring to  one  such  chronological  problem  he  says : 

"  If  a  controversy  occur  as  to  matters  in  the  Holy 
Scriptures  and  it  cannot  be  harmonised,  let  it  go.  This 
is  not  in  conflict  with  the  articles  of  the  Christian  Faith. 
For  all  evangelists  agree  in  testifying  to  the  fact  that 
Christ  died  for  our  sins  ;  but  with  respect  to  His  deeds 
and  miracles  they  observe  no  order."  ' 

He  recognises  a  direct  contradiction  between  the 
accounts  of  the  synoptists  and  John  concerning  the 
number  of  times  Peter  denied  Christ  in  the  house  of 
Caiaphas,  and  decides  against  his  favourite  evangel- 
ist, John.  "  One  will  go  neither  to  Heaven  nor  Hell 
for  holding  that  all  three  denials  occurred  in  the 
house  of  Caiaphas.  The  reconciliation  of  these 
passages  I  commend  to  acute  reasoners. ' '  *  Stephen, 
he  declares,  made  a  small  historical  blunder  in  his 
address  before  his  martyrdom,  since  his  mind  was 
intent  upon  the  main  argument  he  was  urging,  the 
force  of  which  was  in  no  way  affected  by  his  trifling 
mistake.3  But  at  the  same  time  he  enters  his  pro- 
test against  the  abuse  of  critical  methods.  "  It  is 
absurd  to  imitate  those  bold  spirits  who,  whenever 
such  a  difficulty  occurs,  cry  out  at  once  that  a  man- 

1  On  John  ii.,  13-15  (1537-38),  Erlangen,  46:   172. 

*  On  John  xviii.,  15  sqq.  (1528-29),  Erlangen,  50:  308  sqq.t  375. 

-  On  Gen.  xii.,  4  (1545),  Op.  ex.,  3:   121. 


35 2  Martin  Luther  [1483- 

ifest  error  has  been  committed,  and  presume  to  re- 
vise the  books  of  other  men." 

But  with  respect  to  all  matters  of  faith,  as  at  Mar- 
burg, he  put  his  finger  upon  the  unerring  word  of 
God  recorded  in  the  Scriptures,  firm  in  his  resolution 
not  to  depart  a  hair's-breadth  therefrom. 

"  God's  word  is  God's  word  ;  that  needs  no  long  dis- 
cussion. He  that  charges  God  with  falsehood,  or  blas- 
phemes Him  in  respect  to  one  word,  or  says  that  it  is  a 
matter  of  little  importance  that  He  be  blasphemed  and 
charged  with  falsehood,  blasphemes  all  of  God,  and 
makes  light  of  all  blasphemy  of  God."  * 

He  cuts  loose,  therefore,  from  the  scholastics  in 
his  treatment  of  the  doctrine  concerning  God. 
Christology  is  the  key  to  all  knowledge  concerning 
the  nature  and  attributes  of  God  and  the  doctrine  of 
the  Trinity.  His  method  is  not  to  treat  theology 
"  from  above  downwards,"  but  from  "  beneath  up- 
wards." He  does  not  begin  with  the  idea  of  God, 
His  decrees,  etc.,  and  then  infer  the  other  articles 
of  faith,  but  he  begins  with  the  revelation  of  God  in 
Christ.  '  We  must  not  investigate  concerning  the 
Divine  Majesty,  but  must  tie  our  wandering  and 
soaring  thoughts  to  the  Word.  He  who  attempts 
to  speculate  concerning  the  clouds  falls  into  an 
abyss. "  *  '  We  must  not  investigate  as  to  what 
His  Divine  Nature  is,  but  learn  only  to  recognise 
His  Will,  as  He  offers  it  to  us  in  Christ."  4  "All 

1  On  Gen.  xi.,  27  sgg..  Op.  ex.,  3  :  71. 

*  That  these  words  of  Christ  standfast  (1527),  Erlangen,  30  :  28, 

1  On  Is.  xxxviii.,  n  (1534),  VValch,  vi.,  738. 

4 On  Gal.  i.,  3  (1535),  Com.  Gal.,  r  :  50. 


I54&]  Luther's  Theology  353 

thoughts  and  speculations  concerning  the  Divine 
majesty  and  glory  I  dismiss,  and  cleave  alone  to  the 
humanity  of  Christ.  From  this  proceed  such  light 
and  knowledge,  that  I  can  know  what  God  is,  what 
all  creatures  are,  and  what  all  villainy  in  the  king- 
dom of  the  devil  is."1  Firmly  holding  to  the 
doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  he  accepts,  but  regrets 
the  necessity  for,  the  technical  terms  in  which  the 
Nicene  theology  has  stated  it.  The  main  thought 
with  him  lies  in  the  coequal  and  coeternal  divinity  of 
the  Son  with  the  Father. 

A  consistent  Augustinian,  nothing  is  more  pro- 
nounced in  all  his  teaching  than  his  presentation  of 
the  doctrine  of  Original  Sin.  It  is  not  the  act  of 
Adam  that  he  makes  most  prominent,  but  the 
natural  depravity  which  is  its  consequence. 

"  It  is  so  deep  and  horrible  a  corruption  of  nature 
that  no  reason  can  comprehend  it,  but  it  must  be  believed 
upon  authority  of  the  revelation  in  the  Scriptures."  *  "  It 
is  the  chief  sin  ;  if  it  were  not,  there  would  be  no  actual 
sin.  This  sin  is  not,  like  all  other  sins,  committed  ;  but 
it  is.  It  lives,  and  commits  all  sins,  and  is  the  essential 
sin,  which  exists  not  for  an  hour  or  for  any  period  ;  but 
as  long  as  the  person  lives  there  also  is  sin.  This  natural 
sin  God  alone  sees.  It  can  be  restrained  by  no  law  or 
punishment,  even  though  there  were  a  thousand  hells  ; 
only  the  grace  of  God  can  purify  and  renew  the  nature." ' 


1  On  Gal.  i.,  4,  Com.  Gal.,  i  :  64.  Cf.  On  Gen.  vi.,  6  (Op.  ex., 
2  :  170) :  "All  questions  leading  to  the  throne  of  pure  Divinity  I 
avoid.  It  is  better  and  safer  to  stand  by  the  manger  of  Christ,  the 
man."  *  Schmalkald  Articles  (1537),  Erlangen,  25:  126. 

3  On  New  Year's  Day,  Erlangen,  10 :  322. 


354  Martin  Luther  [i4s3- 

It  is  the  heritage  of  "  all  who  are  or  shall  be  born 
into  the  world,  Christ  alone  excepted."  Comment- 
ing on  Psalm  LI.,  he  interprets  David's  language  as 
meaning : 

"  I  am  a  sinner,  not  because  I  committed  adultery  and 
murder,  and  caused  the  death  of  Uriah,  but  I  committed 
adultery  and  murder,  because  I  was  born  a  sinner,  aye, 
conceived  and  formed  in  the  womb  as  such.  So  we  too 
are  sinners,  not  because  we  plot  this  or  that  sin;  but 
such  things  are  devised  by  us,  because  we  are  first  sin- 
ners, /.  ^.,  just  as  corrupt  trees  and  corrupt  seed  produce 
corrupt  fruit,  and  from  a  bad  root  nothing  but  a  bad 
tree  can  grow."  "  He  confesses  that  he  was  corrupt  by 
his  own  fault,  and  not  only  by  that  of  his  parents,  while 
he  was  still  an  embryo  in  the  womb.1  ' 

So  important  is  the  clear  conception  of  this  doc- 
trine to  him  that  he  declares  that  his  opponents  were 
unable  to  teach  correctly  concerning  repentance, 
"  because  they  do  not  hold  aright  concerning  Origi- 
nal Sin."1 

Man,  therefore,  without  the  grace  of  God,  is  in 
spiritual  things  entirely  helpless;  by  his  own  powers 
he  can  neither  put  forth  any  effort  to  return  to  God, 
nor  even  respond  when  God's  grace  approaches  him. 
In  the  simplest  and  most  popular  form,  he  says  in 
his  Catechism:  "  I  believe  that  I  cannot,  by  my 
own  reason  or  strength,  believe  in  Jesus  Christ,  my 
Lord,  or  come  to  Him";  and  in  the  Schmalkald 
Articles  : 

"  They  do  not  hold  aright  concerning  Original  Sin, 

1  Enarratio  in  Ps.  LI.  (1532),  Op.  ex.,  69  sqq. 
*  Schmalkald  Articles  (1537),  Erlangen,  25  :   129. 


Luther's  Theology  355- 

because  they  say  that  the  natural  powers  of  man  havt 
remained  entire  and  incorrupt,  and  that  the  reason  can 
teach,  and  the  heart  do  what  is  taught,  and  that  God 
grants  His  grace  when  man  acts,  so  far  as  he  is  able, 
according  to  his  free  will."  ' 

It  was  with  respect  to  man's  return  to  God,  and 
not  with  respect  to  the  works  of  outward  morality, 
that  he  declared  that  "  free  will  is  a  title  without  a 
corresponding  thing,  or  a  thing  with  nothing  but  the 
title."1  "  Man,  without  the  Holy  Spirit,  can  do 
nothing  but  sin;  and  he  proceeds  from  sin  to  sin."  ' 

Luther's  doctrine  of  Predestination  is  not  the 
centre  of  his  system,  but  only  a  corollary  to  his 
doctrine  of  the  bondage  of  the  will,  and  the  utter 
helplessness  of  man  without  the  grace  of  God.  It 
appears  in  its  most  absolute  form  in  his  treatise,  De 
Servo  Arbitrio,  and  was  never  recalled;  but  in  after 
years  was  constantly  kept  in  the  background,  as,  in 
fact,  it  was  also  previously,  except  when  some  ex- 
aggeration of  human  freedom  provoked  the  most 
complete  denial  of  all  human  agency  in  man's  return 
to  God. 

"  By  this  predestination,"  he  says  in  his  Introduction  to 
the  Epistle  to  the  Romans,  "  that  we  are  godly  is  taken 
altogether  out  of  our  own,  and  is  placed  in  God's  hands. 
This  is  also  most  highly  necessary.  For  we  are  so  weak 
and  uncertain  that  if  it  depended  upon  us,  no  man  what- 


1  Schmalkald  Articles  (1537),  Erlangen,  25  :  129. 
1  Assertio  Omnium  Articulorum,  No.  365,   Op.  varii  argumenti, 
Erlangen,  5  :  225  sq. 

1  On  Gen.  vi.,  5  (1544),  Op.  ex.,  2  :   164. 


356  Martin  Luther  [i483- 

ever  would  be  saved."  "A  limit  must  be  set  to  those 
ambitious  spirits  who  bring  hither  their  reason  and  begin 
from  above  to  investigate  the  abyss  of  God's  predestina- 
tion, and  in  vain  torment  themselves  with  the  question 
whether  they  be  of  the  elect  or  not.  But  follow  thou  the 
order  of  this  epistle,  and  concern  thyself  with  Christ  and 
the  Gospel,  that  thou  mayest  recognise  thy  sins  and  His 
grace  ;  then  fight  with  sins,  as  Chapters  I.-VIII.  have 
taught.  After  that,  when  thou  hast  come  to  the  eighth 
chapter,  and  art  under  the  cross  and  suffering,  thou  wilt 
learn  right  well  in  Chapters  IX.-XI.  how  comforting  pre- 
destination is.  For  unless  one  have  experienced  suffer- 
ing, the  cross,  and  the  sorrows  of  death,  he  cannot  meddle 
with  predestination  without  injury  and  secret  wrath 
against  God.  Adam,  therefore,  must  be  well  killed  ere 
thou  canst  bear  this  and  drink  such  strong  wine.  See  to 
it  then  that  thou  drink  not  wine  while  thou  art  still  a 
suckling.  Every  doctrine  has  its  measure,  time,  and 
age."  ' 

The  lesson  learned,  while  in  spiritual  distress  in 
the  monastery,  to  find  the  solution  of  all  the  pro- 
blems concerning  predestination  in  the  wounds  of 
Jesus,  was  never  forgotten. 

"  Christ,"  he  says,  "  is  the  golden  book,  in  which  the 
will  of  the  Father  stands  before  our  eyes."  "  Christ  is 
the  Book  of  Life,  wherein  thou  art  written  ;  he  who  hears 
Him  and  is  baptised,  is  written  in  the  Book  of  Life." 
"  God  has  adapted  himself  to  our  curiosity.  '  I  will 
show  you  My  will  and  purpose,'  He  says,  '  but  this  I  will 
not  do  in  the  way  of  carnal  wisdom,  as  you  imagine. 
This  I  will  do  :  Instead  of  an  unrevealed,  I  will  become 

1  Anno  1522,  Erlangen,  63  :   119  sqq. 


1546]  Luther's  Theology  357 

a  revealed  God ;  and,  nevertheless,  I  will  remain  the 
same  God.  I  will  become  incarnate,  or  will  send  My 
Son  ;  He  will  die  for  your  sins,  and  will  rise  again  from 
the  dead.  Thus  I  will  satisfy  your  desire  to  know  whether 
or  not  you  are  predestinated.  Behold  My  Son  ;  hear 
Him  (Matt,  xvii.,  5).  See  Him  lying  in  the  manger,  in 
the  lap  of  His  mother,  and  hanging  on  the  cross  !  Note 
what  He  does  and  what  He  says  !  In  so  doing  you  ap- 
prehend Me.  For  he  that  seeth  Me,  says  Christ  (John 
xiv.,  9),  seeth  also  the  Father  Himself.  If  you  hear 
Him,  and  are  baptised  in  His  name,  and  love  His  word, 
you  are  assuredly  predestinated,  and  are  sure  of  your 
salvation.'  " 

The  incarnation,  he  teaches,  presupposes  man's 
sin.  '  This  is  the  cause  of  His  incarnation.  If 
God  had  not  become  man,  He  could  not  have  suf- 
fered, or  died.  For  God  is  a  Spirit,  who  cannot 
suffer  or  die.  If  God,  then,  is  to  suffer  and  die,  He 
must  become  man."  "  All  that  is  done  and  suffered 
by  the  Son  of  God,  in  His  human  nature,  is  done 
and  suffered  by  the  Divine  Person  Himself. 

"  If  it  were  not  true  that  God  suffered  and  died  for  us, 
and  if  man  alone  had  died  for  us,  then  we  would  be 
altogether  lost.  .  .  .  For  God  could  not  die  in  His 
own  nature,  but  since  God  and  man  are  united  in  one 
Person,  it  is  truly  said  :  '  God  died,'  viz.,  when  that  man 
dies  with  whom  God  is  one  Person."  '  "There  are  not 
two  Jesuses,  one  of  whom  alone  came  from  the  Father, 
and  the  other  was  born  of  the  Virgin  Mary  ;  but  there  is 

1  On  Raising  of  Lazarus  (1518),  Erlangen,  18  :  207. 

2  On  Ex.  iii.  (1524),  Erlangen,  35  :  91. 

1  Of  the  Councils  and  the  Church  (1539),  Erlangen,  25  :  312. 


358  Martin  Luther  [i483- 

only  one  Jesus,  The  ancient  Fathers,  therefore,  have 
declared  that  the  attributes  of  both  natures  are  ascribed 
to  the  entire  Person  of  Christ  in  the  concrete,  and  that 
there  is  a  communion  or  participation,  where  the  attribute 
of  one  nature  is  communicated  to  the  other.  For  each 
nature  has  its  own  characteristics;  as  it  is  an  attribute 
of  the  human  to  be  born  of  the  Virgin  Mary,  and  the 
divine  has  other  attributes.  But  since  the  persons  are 
not  to  be  separated,  there  is  a  communication,  so  that  we 
can  say:  '  The  child  Jesus,  Who  lies  in  the  cradle,  has 
created  Heaven  and  earth,'  and  '  The  Son  of  God,  Who, 
from  eternity,  is,  with  the  Father,  God,  hangs  on  the 
breast  of  His  mother,  is  crucified,  and  dies.'  .  .  . 
Hence,  when  the  prayer  is  made:  '  Thou  Son  of  David,' 
or  '  Thou  Son  of  Mary,  have  mercy  upon  me,'  it  is  the 
same  as:  '  O  Jesus,  Thou  Son  of  God,  have  mercy  upon 
me  ' ;  for  the  two  natures  are  in  the  one  Christ."  ' 

It  is  entirely  to  the  humanity  of  Christ  that  the 
humiliation  of  Christ  is  ascribed;  "  for  a  divine 
nature  cannot  be  humbled  or  exalted. "  '  The  form 
of  God,"  in  Phil,  ii.,  5,  he  argues  cannot  be  the 
divine  nature,  but  means,  where  one  claims  to  be 
God,  and  asserts  this  claim  by  external  acts,  as 
Christ  did  by  His  miracles  and  words;  while  "  the 
form  of  a  servant  "  is  where  one  conducts  himself 
towards  others  as  a  servant.  His  humiliation  con- 
sists, then,  in  the  fact,  not 

"  that  He  had  laid  aside  or  could  lay  aside  His  divinity, 
but  only  the  form  of  His  divine  majesty,  and  did  not 
assert  Himself  to  be  God,  as  He  truly  is.  Nevertheless 
His  laying  aside  of  the  divine  form  was  not  in  such  wise 

1  On  John  Hi.,  16  (1538),  Erlangen,  46  :  365. 


1546]  Luther's  Theology  359 

that  this  could  not  be  seen  or  felt,  for  then  no  divine 
form  would  remain,  but  only  that  He  did  not  avail  Him- 
self of  it,  or  dazzle  us  with  it,  but,  on  the  contrary, 
served  us  therewith;  for  He  wrought  miracles  even  in 
His  passion,  and  on  the  cross,  when,  as  God,  He  gave 
Paradise  to  the  thief,  and  in  the  garden,  with  one  word 
prostrated  the  band  of  soldiers."  ' 

While  giving  prominence  to  the  office  of  Christ  as 
a  Prophet,  the  Revealer  of  the  Father's  will,  with- 
out Whose  word  we  can  know  nothing  of  God  aright, 
and  Whose  authority  as  a  teacher,  when  contrasted 
with  that  of  popes  and  councils,  is  supreme  and  final, 
he  constantly  shows  that  the  goal  of  the  Prophetic 
is  the  Priestly  office.  The  centre  of  Christology  is 
expressed  in  the  words  of  his  Catechism:  "  Who 
has  redeemed  me,  a  lost  and  condemned  creature, 
secured  and  delivered  me  from  all  my  sins,  not  with 
silver  and  gold,  but  with  His  holy  and  precious 
blood,  and  with  His  innocent  suffering  and  death." 
"All  that  our  Lord  suffered,  He  suffered  for  us,  and 
God  laid  on  Him  such  sufferings,  and  would  not  re- 
move them,  although  He  was  innocent,  in  order  that 
we  might  thereby  be  freed  from  sin,  and  be  recon- 
ciled with  God."  a 

"  As  to  His  own  person,  Christ  is  innocent  and  should 
not  be  hung  upon  a  tree;  but,  since  according  to  the 
law,  every  robber  should  be  hung,  this,  according  to  the 
law  of  Moses,  should  be  done  to  Christ,  because  He 
sustained  the  person  of  a  sinner  and  robber,  and  that, 
too,  not  of  one,  but  of  all  sinners  and  robbers.  .  .  . 

1  On  Epistle  for  Palm  Sunday,  Erlangen  s,  8 :   168. 

*  On  Fourth  Sunday  in  Advent  (1534),  Erlangen9,  2  :  92. 


360  Martin  Luther  [i483- 

The  Merciful  Father,  seeing  that  we  were  laden  with  the 
curse  of  the  law,  and  so  bound  by  it,  that,  of  our  own 
strength,  we  could  not  be  freed,  sent  His  Only-Begotten 
Son  into  the  world,  and  laid  upon  Him  the  sins  of  us  all, 
saying:  '  Thou  art  Peter,  Paul,  David,  the  sinner  who 
ate  the  fruit  in  Paradise,  the  robber  on  the  cross,  in  a 
word,  Thou  art  the  person  who  committed  the  sins  of  all 
men.'  "  ' 

But  the  vicarious  work  of  Christ  is  not  limited  to 
His  subjection  to  the  law,  and  His  suffering  the  pen- 
alties for  sin.  "  Every  work,  which  God  does  in 
Christ,  is  done  for  me,  aye,  is  presented  and  given 
me,  so  that  His  resurrection  causes  me  to  rise  again, 
and  quickens  me  with  Him."  *  Hence  "the  words: 
'  CHRIST  HAS  RISEN  '  should  be  written  with  the 
very  largest  letters  in  the  heart,  so  that  faith  may 
see,  hear,  think,  and  know  of  no  other  article." 
"  Know,  then,  sin,  death,  and  the  devil,  that  I  am 
not  terrified  by  you ;  for  Christ,  my  dear  Lord,  has 
presented  me  with  His  triumph  and  victory."  '  All 
sins  being  comprised  within  the  compass  of  Christ's 
vicarious  satisfaction,  man  has  no  longer  any  satis- 
faction to  render. 

"  If  the  law,  then,  come  and  accuse  thee,  for  not 
having  observed  it,  point  to  Christ,  and  say:  '  There  is 
the  man  who  has  done  all;  upon  Him  I  depend.  He 
has  fulfilled  it  for  me  and  presented  me  with  His  fufil- 
ment ' ;  and  it  will  be  silent.  If  sin  come  to  slay  thee, 
point  again  to  Christ  and  say:  '  Whatever  you  can  effect 

1  On  Gal.  iii.,  13,  Com.  Gal.  (1535),  2  :  15,  19. 
*  Sermon  on  Easter  (1521),  Erlangen  *,  n  :  214. 
1  Easter  Sermon  (Coburg,  1530),  18  :  95. 


1546]  Luther's  Theology  361 

with  Him  you  will  effect  with  me;  for  I  am  in  Him  and 
He  is  in  me.'  If  death  come  to  devour  thee,  say  to  it: 
'  Well,  death,  don't  you  know  that  man  there  ?  Go,  bite 
Him  for  me;  He  once  made  your  bite  sour  enough  for 
you.  But  if  you  want  anything  more,  provoke  Him 
again.  ...  To  that  man  I  belong;  I  am  His  and 
He  is  mine,  and  wherever  He  abides  there  also  do  I.' 
If  the  devil  come  to  gain  a  share  in  thee,  and  hell  want 
to  devour  thee,  only  point  to  Christ;  and  they  will  be 
still.  See,  therefore,  what  we  have  in  Christ,  viz.,  the 
man,  who  is  given  us  of  God,  who  is  to  extinguish  sin, 
crush  death,  burst  Hell,  and  take  the  devil  captive;  all 
of  which  is  for  our  profit."  ' 

This  righteousness  of  Christ  becomes  ours  only  by 
faith.  The  expressions  "  by  faith  alone,"  and  "  by 
faith  alone,  without  works,"  are  the  watchwords  of 
Luther's  theology,  often  designated  by  unfriendly 
critics  as  "  solifidianism."  By  these  statements 
he  means  only  to  declare  that  man  is  justified  before 
God,  i.  e.,  forgiven  and  accounted  righteous,  only  by 
the  work  and  merit  of  Christ,  and  that  these  merits 
are  applied  and  appropriated  only  through  faith. 

"  No  one  but  Jesus  Christ  has  died  for  our  sins;  but  if 
He  be  the  only  one  who  takes  away  our  sins,  we  cannot 
do  this  by  our  works;  so  if  it  is  impossible  for  me  to  ap- 
prehend and  receive  such  a  sole  and  only  Redeemer 
otherwise  than  by  faith,  He  cannot  be  apprehended  by 
works.  But  since  faith  embraces  such  a  Redeemer  prior 
to  works,  which  follow,  it  must  be  true  that  faith,  before 
and  without  works,  embraces  Him;  and  this  is  equivalent 


1  Sermon  on  St.  Thomas's  Day,  Erlangen3,  15  :  63. 


362  Martin  Luther  [i483- 

to  being  justified.  But  after  such  faith,  good  works 
follow  as  the  fruits  of  faith."  '  "By  faith  alone  in 
Christ,  and  not  by  the  works  of  the  law,  or  love,  are  we 
declared  righteous;  not  that  we  reject  works  and  love, 
as  the  adversaries  accuse  us,  but  that  we  do  not  allow 
ourselves  to  be  diverted  from  the  state  of  the  present 
case." a  "  Faith  brings  with  it  a  band  of  most  beautiful 
virtues,  nor  is  it  ever  alone;  but,  on  this  account,  differ- 
ent things  are  not  to  be  confused,  and  what  belongs  to 
faith  alone  to  be  ascribed  to  the  rest.  Faith  is  the 
mother,  whence  these  virtues,  as  children,  are  born. 
Unless  faith  had  first  embraced  the  promises  concerning 
Christ,  the  other  virtues  would  not  be  present."1 
"  Just  as  the  consecration  of  churches  and  confirmation 
and  other  official  acts  do  not  make  one  who  has  been 
consecrated  to  the  episcopate  a  bishop,  but  if  he  have  not 
been  first  consecrated  the  works  would  be  invalid  and 
foolish;  so  a  Christian  who  has  been  consecrated  by  faith 
is  made  no  better  a  Christian  by  the  works  which  he  does 
— for  only  an  increase  of  faith  can  accomplish  that — and 
if  he  have  not  believed,  all  his  works  are  nothing  but 
foolish  and  condemnable  sins.  Hence  these  two  sayings 
are  correct:  '  Good  and  godly  works  never  make  a  good 
and  godly  man;  but  a  good  and  godly  man  does  good 
works.'  '  Evil  deeds  never  make  a  bad  man;  but  a  bad 
man  commits  evil  deeds.'  The  person  must  always  be 
good  and  godly,  before  there  are  good  works,  and  good 
works  follow  and  proceed  from  a  godly  and  good  person. 
The  trees  grow  not  upon  the  fruits,  but  the  fruits  upon 
the  trees."  * 

1  Gloss  on  Imperial  Edict  (1531),  Erlangen.  25  :  76. 

*  Commentary  on  Galalians  (1535). 

3  On  Gen.  xv.  (1545),  Op.  ex.,  3  :  305. 

*  On  the  Freedom  of  a  Christian  (1520),  Erlangen,  27  :  191. 


1546]  Luther's  Theology  363 

But  faith  is  neither,  as  Luther  has  sometimes  been 
charged  with  teaching,  a  mere  emotion,  nor  the 
mere  acceptance  of  certain  doctrines;  to  him  it  is  a 
life-principle.  "  Faith  is  not  man's  opinion  and 
dream,  which  some  take  to  be  faith."  '  He  speaks 
of  some  who 

"  when  they  hear  the  Gospel,  immediately  devise,  from 
their  own  powers,  the  imagination  in  their  hearts,  to 
which  they  give  expression  in  the  words:  '  I  believe.' 
This  they  regard  as  right  faith.  Nevertheless,  it  is 
nothing  but  man's  thought  and  imagination,  which  is 
never  experienced  at  heart;  hence  it  accomplishes  noth- 
ing, and  no  amendment  follows."  *  "  Often  one  who 
imagines  he  believes,  does  not  believe  at  all;  and,  on  the 
other  hand,  one  who  imagines  that  he  does  not  believe, 
but  doubts,  believes  most  of  all.  This  passage  (Mark 
xvi.,  16)  does  not  say:  '  He  who  knows  that  he  believes,' 
or  '  when  he  knows  that  he  believes ',  but:  '  He  that  be- 
lieveth  shall  be  saved.'  '  "  Faith  is  a  divine  work  in 
us,  which  transforms  us."  "  Faith  is  a  living,  wide- 
awake confidence  in  God's  grace,  that  is  so  certain  that 
one  who  has  it  is  ready  to  die  a  thousand  times  for  it."  * 

Nevertheless  it  justifies,  not  because  it  is  so  excel- 
lent a  work,  but  solely  because  of  the  object  which 
it  apprehends.  "  I  am  accustomed,"  he  says,  "  to 
conceive  this  idea,  that  there  is  no  quality  in  my 
heart  at  all,  call  it  either  faith  or  charity ;  but,  in- 
stead of  these,  I  set  Christ  Himself,  and  say :  '  There 
is  my  righteousness.'  '  Such  faith 

1  Introduction  to  Romans  (1522),  Erlangen,  63  :  124.         *  Jb. 

3  Ag.  Anabaptists  (1528),  Erlangen,  26  :  269. 

4  Introduction  to  Romans,  Erlangen,  63  :  124. 

*  Correspondence  with  Brentz,  De  Wette,  4  :  271. 


364  Martin  Luther  [1483- 

"  makes  us  entirely  different  men  in  heart,  mind,  sense, 
and  all  powers,  and  brings  with  it  the  Holy  Spirit.  Oh, 
it  is  a  living,  active,  busy  thing  that  we  have  in  faith! 
It  is  impossible  for  one  who  has  faith  to  do  otherwise 
than  incessantly  to  do  good.  He  asks  not  whether  good 
works  are  to  be  done,  but  before  such  a  question  can  be 
asked,  he  has  done  them,  and  is  always  busy.  .  .  . 
As  impossible  is  it  to  separate  works  from  faith,  as  to 
separate  heat  and  light  from  fire."  ' 

Hence  the  paradox:  "  We  are  justified  by  faith 
alone,  and  yet  it  is  never  alone."  The  always 
present  good  works  in  no  way  merit  the  favour  of 
God,  and  induce  Him  to  forgive  our  sins  and  pro- 
nounce us  righteous,  but  are  only  the  seals  and  fruits 
of  that  favour.  "  As  the  circumcision  of  Abraham 
was  an  external  sign,  whereby  he  proved  his  right- 
eousness by  faith,  so  all  good  works  are  only  outward 
signs,  which,  as  good  fruits,  follow  faith,  and  prove 
that  man  is  already  justified  before  God.'"  "  Of 
this  article,  nothing  can  be  yielded  or  surrendered, 
even  though  heaven  and  earth  and  all  things  should 
sink  to  ruin." 

The  definition  of  "  a  good  work  ' '  was  also  revised, 
and  limited  to  works  done  according  to  the  direc- 
tions of  the  Ten  Commandments,  and  not  merely 
according  to  any  self-imposed  or  human  prescrip- 
tions. A  divine  call  and  appointment  must  lie  at 
the  root  of  every  good  work.4 


1  Introduction  to  Romans,  Erlangen,  63  :   125. 
s  /£.,  Erlangen,  63  :   129. 

3  Sc hmalkald  Articles,  Erlangen,  25  :   115. 

4  Gloss  on  Imperial  Edict  (1531),  Erlangen,  25  :  85. 


1546]  Luther's  Theology  365 

Faith,  however,  comes  not  from  the  free  will  of 
man,  or  any  human  powers,  but  is  the  gift  of  God 
wrought  within  man  by  the  Holy  Spirit  through  the 
Word. 

"  God  grants  His  Spirit  or  grace  to  no  one  except 
through  or  with  the  preceding  outward  Word."  '  "  God 
wishes  to  deal  with  us  in  no  other  way  than  through  the 
spoken  Word  and  the  sacraments;  and  whatever,  with- 
out the  Word  and  sacraments,  is  extolled  as  Spirit,  is  the 
devil  himself.""  "The  Holy  Spirit  works  inwardly  in 
the  heart.  But  such  work  He  effects,  in  His  ordinary 
and  usual  way,  only  through  the  oral  word,  as  Paul  says 
(Rom.  x.,  4).  No  one,  therefore,  desiring  consolation, 
should  wait  until  the  Holy  Spirit  addresses  him  person- 
ally in  His  majesty.  For  His  testimony  He  brings  to  us 
publicly  in  the  preaching  of  the  Word;  there  you  must 
seek  and  await  Him,  until,  by  the  word  which  you  hear 
with  your  ears,  He  touches  your  heart,  and  so  also,  by 
His  working,  inwardly  testifies,  in  your  heart,  to  Christ."  ' 
"  There  is  no  other  way  or  means  of  coming  to  faith, 
than  hearing,  learning,  and  meditating  upon  the 
Gospel."  * 

The  Gospel  being  thus  emphasised  as  that  part  of 
the  Word  that  is  used  by  the  Spirit  to  work  faith, 
the  distinction  between  Law  and  Gospel  and  the 
Old  and  the  New  Testaments  is  drawn  with  great 
prominence. 

"  Without  the  Holy  Spirit,  it  is  impossible  to  observe 

1  Sehmalkald  Articles,  Erlangen,  25  :  140. 
3  Ib. 

3  On  Ascension  Day  (1532),  Erlangen2,  5  :   173. 

4  On  John  i.,  7  (1537-38),  Erlangen,  45  :  360. 


366  Martin  Luther 

this  distinction.  How  difficult  it  is,  I  experience  in  my- 
self and  observe  daily  in  others.  By  the  Law,  nothing 
else  is  meant  than  God's  word  and  command,  wherein 
He  enjoins  what  we  should  do  and  leave  undone,  and 
demands  our  obedience.  But  the  Gospel  is  that  doctrine 
or  word  of  God  that  neither  requires  works  of  us,  nor 
enjoins  the  doing  of  anything,  but  announces  only  the 
offered  grace  of  the  forgiveness  of  sins  and  eternal  life. 
The  Gospel  offers  God's  gifts,  and  bids  us  only  open  the 
sack  to  receive  them,  while  the  Law  gives  nothing,  but 
only  takes  and  demands  of  us.  The  Gospel  consoles 
and  says:  '  Lo,  Christ  is  thy  treasure,  thy  present,  thy 
Saviour,  thy  help.'  "  ' 

Paul's  definition  of  the  Gospel  is  said  to  be,  that 
Christ  died  for  our  sins  and  rose  again.  "  Nothing 
here  is  said  as  to  what  I  must  do,  or  leave  undone, 
but  only  of  what  Christ  has  done."*  Guarding 
carefully  against  Antinomian  licence,  and  teaching 
the  perpetual  obligation  of  obedience  to  the  Law,  he 
warned  particularly  against  the  danger  of  regarding 
Christ  as  only  a  new  Lawgiver,  offering  salvation 
upon  easier  terms  than  Moses,  and  the  Gospel  as  "  a 
book  of  laws  and  commands,"  instead  of  "  a  book 
of  promises."'  'The  Gospel,  properly,  is  not 
Scripture,  but  the  oral  word  or  living  voice."  4 

This  Gospel,  or  assurance  of  God's  grace,  comes 
in  three  forms,  viz.,  the  preaching  of  the  Word, 


1  Sermon  on  Distinction  between  the  Law  and  the  Gospel  (1532), 
Erlangen,  19  :  236  sqq. 

*  On  i  Cor.  xv.,  5-7  (1534),  Erlangen,  51  :   104. 

z  Introduction  to  Winter  part  of  Church  Postils,  Erlangen*,  7  :  7,  0. 

4  On  Fourth  Sunday  in  Advent,  Erlangen3,  7  :   12. 


Luther's  Theology  367 

baptism,  and  the  Lord's  Supper.  4<  The  Holy  Spirit 
sanctifies  the  Christian  Church  through  the  Word 
and  sacraments,  whereby  He  inwardly  works  faith 
and  the  knowledge  of  Christ.  They  are  the  instru- 
ments and  means  whereby  He  incessantly  sanctifies 
and  cleanses  the  Church."  '  What  the  preaching  of 
the  Word  offers  in  a  general  way  to  all,  that  the 
sacraments  offer  to  the  individual  to  whom  they  are 
administered.  Hence,  as  the  Augsburg  Confession 
teaches,  "  they  were  instituted  not  merely  to  be 
signs  whereby  Christians  might  externally  recognise 
one  another,  but  signs  and  testimonies  of  God's 
will  towards  us,  to  awaken  and  strengthen  our 
faith."  *  They  "  are  visible  signs  of  grace,  that  we 
may  be  assured  that  our  sins  are  removed  by  the 
sufferings  of  Christ,  and  that  we  are  redeemed  by 
His  blood."3  Not  the  element,  nor  even,  in  the 
Lord's  Supper,  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ,  but 
only  the  word  of  the  Gospel  accompanying  them, 
assures  of  salvation  and  works  faith. 

"  Water,  without  the  word  of  God,  is  simply  water, 
and  not  baptism ;  but,  when  connected  with  the  word  of 
God,  it  is  a  baptism,  *.  <?.,  a  gracious  water  of  life,  and  a 
washing  of  regeneration."  4  "  The  eating  and  drinking 
do  not  produce  such  great  effects,  but  the  words  which 
stand  here,  viz.,  '  Given  and  shed  for  you,  for  the  remis- 
sion of  sins. '  These  words,  that  accompany  the  bodily 
eating  and  drinking,  are  the  chief  things  in  the  sacra- 

1  On  John  xiv.,  26  (1538),  Erlangen,  49 :  220. 

9  Art.  XIII. 

3  On  Gen.  iv.,  3,  Op.  ex.,  i  :  313-31$. 

*  Small  Catechism  (1529). 


368  Martin  Luther  [1483- 

ment,  and  he  who  believes  these  words,  has  that  which 
they  declare  and  set  forth,  viz.,  the  remission  of  sins." 
"  Often  have  we  said  that  the  chief  part  in  the  sacra- 
ment, is  the  word  of  Christ,  where  He  says:  '  Take  eat, 
this  is  My  body,  which  is  given  for  you,'  etc.  In  these 
words,  everything  is  found,  that  every  Christian  should 
know  and  maintain,  and  should  not  permit  to  be  wrested 
from  him  by  any  other  doctrine,  even  though  it  were  that 
of  an  angel  from  heaven.  They  are  words  of  life  and 
salvation,  so  that  to  him  who  believes  them,  through 
such  faith  all  sins  are  forgiven  him,  and  he  is  a  child  of 
life,  and  has  overcome  hell  and  death.  How  great  and 
mighty  these  words  are,  is  inexpressible;  for  they  are  the 
sum  of  the  entire  Gospel.  Far  more  stress,  therefore, 
is  to  be  laid  upon  these  words  than  upon  the  sacrament 
itself;  and  a  Christian  should  accustom  himself  to  regard 
these  words  rather  than  the  sacrament.  Erroneous 
teachers,  however,  have  perverted  this  everywhere,  so 
that  the  Word  is  disparaged  before  the  people,  and  this 
faith  vanishes,  and  the  sacrament  is  converted  into  a 
mere  external  work  without  faith.  Where,  then,  you 
attach  the  less  honour  to  the  words  than  to  the  sacrament 
itself,  it  is  a  certain  sign  that  you  do  not  understand  the 
sacrament  aright."4  "Although  baptism  is  in  itself  a 
transcendent  divine  treasure,  it  is  of  no  avail  without 
faith.  ...  By  suffering  the  water  to  be  poured 
upon  you,  you  have  not  received  baptism  so  that  it  be- 
comes a  blessing  to  you;  but  it  will  be  a  blessing  if  you 
have  yourself  baptised  with  the  purpose,  according  to 
God's  command  and  institution,  and  in  God's  name,  to 
receive  in  the  water  the  promised  salvation.  This  the 


1  Small  Catechism  (1529). 

f  Von  Anbeten  a"es  Sacraments  (1523),  Erlangen,  28  :  390  sg. 


1546]  Luther's  Theology  369 

hand  cannot  do,  or  the  body,  but  the  heart  must  believe 
it."1 

Baptism  being  thus  a  covenant  of  God  with  an  in- 
dividual soul,  is  unalterable,  so  far  as  God  is  con- 
cerned. Man  may  entirely  forfeit  the  blessing  by 
repelling  God's  offers  and  casting  away  faith;  but 
the  blessing  becomes  his  once  more  when  he  returns. 
Alluding  to  Jerome's  declaration  that  penance  is  the 
second  plank  upon  which  one  escapes  when  the  ship 
of  his  baptism  is  wrecked,  Luther  says : 

"  The  ship  never  breaks,  because  it  is  an  institution 
of  God,  and  not  a  matter  of  ours;  but  it  happens  that  we 
slip  and  fall  out  of  the  ship.  Yet,  if  any  one  so  fall,  let 
him  see  that  he  come  again  into  it,  and  live  therein." 
"  Just  as,  when  a  bride  marries  against  her  will,  and 
without  affection  to  her  husband,  while,  before  God,  she 
is  not  the  true  wife  of  the  man  she  marries,  yet  if,  in  two 
years,  he  win  her  love,  you  would  not  say  that  a  new  be- 
trothal and  marriage  were  necessary,  upon  the  ground 
that  the  former  betrothal  and  marriage  were  invalidated 
by  her  insincerity.  So  when  an  adult  receives  baptism 
insincerely,  you  would  not  advise  him,  a  year  later, 
when  he  becomes  a  believer,  to  be  rebaptised  !  "  * 

The  daily  life  of  the  Christian,  therefore,  is 
nothing  more  than  the  continual  exercise  and  prac- 
tice of  that  which  has  been  given  him  in  baptism. 

"  If  you  live  in  repentance  you  walk  in  baptism,  which 
not  only  signifies  such  a  new  life,  but  produces,  begins, 

1  Large  Catechism  (1529),  Erlangen,  21  :  134. 

«  /*.,  141- 

1  Against  the  Anabaptists  (1528),  Erlangen,  26:  258-260. 


37°  Martin  Luther  1*483- 

and  exercises  it.  .  ;.  .  For  this  reason,  let  every  one 
esteem  his  baptism  as  a  daily  dress,  in  which  he  shall 
constantly  walk  that  he  may  suppress  the  old  man  and 
grow  up  in  the  new."  * 

All  the  efficacy  of  baptism  is  thus  that  of  the 
Gospel,  of  which  it  is  the  pledge  and  seal. 

"  The  word  of  the  Gospel  shows  and  reveals  the  Ex- 
alted and  Crucified  Christ,  as  the  only  Saviour  and 
Mediator.  Baptism  is  a  sure  sign  and  testimony  accom- 
panying the  Word,  whereby  it  is  attested.  .  .  .  With 
this  Word  and  baptism,  the  Holy  Spirit  is  present  with 
His  power  and  gifts,  enkindling  faith,  that,  amid  fear 
and  terrors,  man  holds,  with  sure  confidence,  to  the 
promise  concerning  Christ.  If,  then,  through  the  Holy 
Spirit,  one  firmly  believes  that  Christ,  the  Son  of  God, 
died  for  our  sins  on  the  cross,  this  imparts  a  new  heart 
and  a  new  sense,  so  that,  through  the  Word,  an  entirely 
new  man  results."  * 

For  infant  baptism,  he  finds  the  strongest  proof 
in  the  fact  that  the  holy  lives  of  so  many  baptised 
in  infancy  clearly  show  that  the  Holy  Spirit  has  been 
given  them.'  Its  end  is  stated  in  the  words:  "  We 
bring  the  child  in  the  purpose  and  hope  that  it  may 
believe,  and  we  pray  that  God  may  grant  it  faith ; 
but  we  do  not  baptise  it  upon  that  faith,  but  solely 
upon  the  command  of  God."  *  He  challenges  proof 


1  Large  Catechism  (1529),  Erlangen,  21  :  141. 

*  On  Trinity  Sunday  (1533),  Erlangen*,  5  :  251. 

*  Large  Catechism,  Erlangen,  21  :   136. 
*/*.,  137. 


1546]  Luther's  Theology  371 

for  the  assertion  that  infants  cannot  believe,  and 
argues  at  length  to  the  contrary,  citing  numerous 
passages  of  Scripture,  such  as  Luke  i.,  41;  Matt. 
xix.,  14.'  The  difficulty  involved  he  meets  thus: 

"  When  God  commands,  says  or  does  anything,  put 
your  hand  upon  your  mouth,  and  fall  upon  your  knees, 
and,  without  asking  or  saying  anything  more,  do  what 
He  commands,  hear  what  He  says,  and  submit  to  what- 
ever He  says."  *  "If  any  one  should  deny  that  when 
an  infant  is  baptised,  he  is  given  righteousness  and  sal- 
vation, and  explain  away  the  promise  by  declaring  that 
it  would  be  valid,  and  would  work  only  when  one  would 
attain  the  use  of  reason,  and,  by  working,  attain  what  is 
offered  in  the  promise;  also,  that  baptism  is  not  a  sign 
of  God's  will  to  us,  but  only  a  mark  to  distinguish  be- 
lievers from  unbelievers,  etc.,  he  absolutely  denies  salva- 
tion to  baptism,  and  ascribes  it  to  works."  ' 

His  numerous  discussions  concerning  the  Lord's 
Supper,  narrated  in  the  foregoing  chapters,  were 
marked  by  the  constant  reiteration  of  this  same 
principle. 

"  What  is  more  silly,  reason  suggests,  than  that  in  the 
Lord's  Supper,  under  the  bread  and  wine,  the  true  body 
and  blood  of  Christ  should  be  eaten  and  drunk,  for  the 
forgiveness  of  sins  ?  Of  what  help,  says  reason,  is  a  bite 
of  bread  or  a  sip  of  wine  ?  But,  if  reason  is  to  judge 
concerning  divine  things,  Abraham  also  might  have 


1  Against  the  Anabaptists  (1528),  Erlangen,  26  :  254-294. 

*  Sermon  on  Gospel  for  New  Year  (1531),  Erlangen*,  4 :   181  sqq. 

1  On  Gal.  iii.,  8,  Op.  ex.,  24:  348. 


372  Martin  Luther  [i483- 

said:  '  Hast  Thou  no  other  sign  of  the  covenant  be- 
tween me  and  Thee  than  this  foolish  business  of  circum- 
cision ?  '  "  ' 

Inflexible  to  the  very  end  of  his  life  in  maintaining 
the  real  presence  and  the  literal  interpretation  of  the 
Words  of  Institution,  he  is  just  as  pronounced  in  re- 
pudiating transubstantiation  as  a  sophistical  subtlety, 
without  Scriptural  foundation,  and  the  source  of 
much  of  the  idolatry  sanctioned  by  the  Papacy. 
Consubstantiation,  often  ascribed  to  him,  is  without 
a  word  of  approval  in  his  writings.  The  body  and 
blood  of  Christ,  he  is  careful  to  teach,  are  present  in 
the  Lord's  Supper  in  an  entirely  different  way  from 
the  bread  and  wine.  The  bread  and  wine  are  re- 
ceived by  the  mouth  in  a  natural,  and  the  body  and 
blood  in  a  supernatural,  manner.  Whatever  stress, 
however,  is  laid  upon  the  real  presence,  is  subordi- 
nate to  the  importance  of  the  Word  of  which  it  is  the 
pledge.  The  Catechism  declares,  therefore,  that  the 
chief  thing  in  the  sacrament  is  "  not  the  bodily  eat- 
ing and  drinking,  but  the  words :  '  Given  and  shed 
for  you,  for  the  remission  of  sins. '  '  '  We  hold,"  he 
says,  "  to  both  the  bodily  and  the  spiritual  eating. 
The  mouth  eats  the  body  of  Christ  bodily;  but  the 
heart  apprehends  the  Word  by  faith,  and  eats  it 
spiritually.  For  both  heart  and  mouth  eat,  each  in 
its  own  way ;  the  heart  cannot  eat  bodily,  and  the 
mouth  cannot  eat  spiritually."11  "  In  the  Lord's 
Supper  there  is  a  spiritual  eating,  nevertheless  only 

1  On  Gospel  for  New  Year,  Erlangen*,  4 :   181. 

9  "  That  these  words  stand  firm  "  (1527),  Erlangen,  30  :  93. 


1546]  Luther's  Theology  373 

by  believers ;  and,  besides,  a  bodily  eating  common 
to  believers  and  unbelievers."  ' 

The  sacramental  presence  is  intended  only  to 
apply  in  all  its  force  the  promise  of  the  Gospel,  and 
thus  to  confirm  and  strengthen  faith.  Where  this 
promise  is  not  received  the  sacramental  presence 
remains,  but  it  brings  judgment  instead  of  blessing. 
"  A  just  man  shall  live,  not  from  the  sacraments, 
but  from  faith.  For  not  the  sacraments,  but  faith 
at  the  sacrament,  quickens  and  justifies.  Where 
there  is  no  faith,  baptism  is  of  no  avail;  for  not 
baptism,  but  faith  at  baptism,  saves."*  In  marked 
contrast  with  the  mediaeval  theory,  Luther  taught 
that  the  sacraments  were  not  rites,  in  which  man 
brought  something  to  God,  but  that  they  were  in- 
stitutions and  acts  of  God,  in  which  He  offered  and 
conferred  the  grace  of  the  Gospel. 

"  In  the  Mass,  we  give  nothing  to  Christ,  but  only  re- 
ceive from  Him."  *  "  The  Mass  is  nothing  but  the  divine 
promise  or  testament  of  Christ,  commended  by  the  sacra- 
ment of  His  body  and  blood."  4  "  The  worthy  prepara- 
tion and  legitimate  use  of  the  Mass  is  nothing  but  faith, 
whereby  the  Mass,  /.  £.,  the  divine  promise,  is  believed. 
Let  him  who  comes  to  the  altar  beware  of  appearing 
empty  before  God.  But  he  will  be  empty,  if  he  have 

1  Explained  at  length  in  sermon  on  John  vi.,  55-58  (1524),  Erlang- 
en8, 15  :  368  ;  and  in  letter  to  Albert  of  Prussia  (1532),  Erlangen,  54  : 
281  ;  and  De  Wette,  4  :  349. 

*  Against  the  Bull  of  Antichrist  (1520),  Erlangen,  24:  6r. 

*  Sermon  on  the  New  Testament,  i.  e.,  the  Holy  Mass  (1520),  Er- 
langen, 27  :  155. 

4  Babylonian  Captivity  (1520),  Weimar,  i.,  520. 


374  Martin  Luther  [1483- 

not  faith  in  the  Mass,  *'.  <?.,  in  this  new  testament.  .  .  . 
The  entire  virtue  of  the  Mass  consists  in  the  words  of 
Christ,  whereby  He  testifies  that  the  remission  of  sins  is 
given  all  who  believe  that  the  body  of  Christ  was  given 
and  His  blood  shed  for  them.  .  .  .  For  this  reason 
nothing  more  is  necessary  for  those  who  participate  than 
to  meditate  earnestly  and  with  full  faith  upon  the  words 
of  the  Mass."  ' 

The  blessings  received  by  the  communicant  in  the 
Lord's  Supper  cannot  be  communicated  by  him  to 
others.  '  The  Mass  is  not  a  work  communicable  to 
others;  but  it  is  presented  each  one  individually  for 
the  nourishment  and  strengthening  of  his  own 
faith."1  "  It  can  profit  no  one,  be  applied  to  no 
one,  can  aid  no  one,  can  be  communicated  to  no 
one,  unless  he  himself  alone  believe  by  his  own 
faith."8 

With  the  rejection  of  the  sacrificial  theory  of  the 
Mass,  the  sacerdotal  idea  of  the  ministry  and  the 
entire  hierarchy  vanish. 

"  Only  one  Priest  do  we  have,  viz.,  Christ  who  offered 
Himself  for  us  all.  This  is  a  spiritual  priesthood  com- 
mon to  all  Christians,  whereby  we  are  all  priests  with 
Christ,  /.  <?.,  we  are  all  the  children  of  Christ,  the  High 
Priest,  and  need  no  other  priest  or  mediator.  As  every 
priest  (Heb.  v.,  i)  is  set  apart  to  pray  for  the  people  and 
preach,  so  every  Christian,  for  himself,  may  pray  in 
Christ  and  come  to  God  (Rom.  v.,  2).  .  .  .  In  the 
New  Testament,  the  external  priesthood  is  overthrown ; 
for  it  makes  prayer,  access  to  God,  and  teaching  common 

1  Babylonian  Captivity  (1520),  Weimar,  i.,  517.  *  Ib.,  523. 

1  Ib.,  521. 


1546]  Luther's  Theology  375 

to  all  men."  '  "  But  you  say:  '  If  it  be  true  that  we  are 
all  priests  and  should  preach,  what  chaos  will  result! 
Is  there  no  difference,  then,  among  the  people,  and  are 
the  women  also  priests  ? '  Answer:  '  In  the  New  Testa- 
ment, no  priest  should  wear  a  tonsure,  not  that  it  is  of 
itself  wrong,  but  that  no  distinction  be  made  between 
him  and  the  ordinary  Christian;  for  it  is  inconsistent 
with  faith.  So  that  all  those  now  called  priests  should 
be  all  laymen,  like  the  rest,  only  some  should  be  chosen 
by  the  congregation,  as  its  officers,  to  preach.  The  dis- 
tinction, therefore,  is  one  that  is  only  external,  and  re- 
spects the  office,  to  which  one  is  called  by  a  congregation ; 
but  before  God,  there  is  no  distinction.  Only  some  are 
selected  from  the  mass,  in  order  to  exercise,  for  the  con- 
gregation, the  office  which  belongs  to  all,  and  not  that 
one  has  more  power  than  another.'  '  "  Since  Christ 
is  the  Bridegroom,  and  we  the  bride,  the  bride  has  all 
that  belongs  to  the  Bridegroom,  even  His  body.  For 
when  He  gives  Himself  to  the  bride,  He  gives  her  all 
that  He  is,  and  in  turn  the  bride  gives  herself  to  Him. 
Christ  is  the  eternal  High  Priest,  anointed  of  God  Him- 
self, who  has  offered  for  us  His  own  body,  and  prayed 
for  us  on  the  cross,  and  also  preached  the  Gospel,  and 
taught  all  men  to  acknowledge  God  and  Him.  These 
three  offices  He  has  given  us  all.  Since  He  is  Priest, 
and  we  are  all  His  brethren,  all  Christians  have  the  au- 
thority and  command  to  preach  and  proclaim  God's 
grace  and  virtue,  etc.,  and  to  go  before  God,  that  one 
may  intercede  for  the  other,  and  offer  himself  to  God. 
Nevertheless,  as  St.  Paul  says  that  everything  should  be 
done  in  order,  not  every  one  should  teach  and  administer 


1  Of  the  Abuse  of  the  Mass  (1522),  Erlangen,  28  :  34. 
*  On  I  Peter  ii.,  9  (1523),  Erlangen,  51  :  387  sqq. 


376  Martin  Luther  [1483- 

the  sacraments  in  the  congregation,  but  those  only  who 
are  called  by  the  congregation,  and  to  whom  the  office  is 
entrusted,  and  the  rest  should  listen  in  silence."  ' 
"  Pastors  are  priests  (as  Scripture  uses  the  term),  not 
because  of  their  office,  but  they  are  such  before  their 
office,  from  their  baptism.  .  .  .  For  while  all  are 
priests,  yet  not  all  are  to  preach  or  teach  or  govern,  but 
some  must  be  chosen  from  the  entire  body,  to  whom 
such  office  is  to  be  entrusted.  He  who  administers  it,  is, 
with  respect  to  his  office  not  a  priest  as  the  rest  are,  but 
a  minister  of  all  the  rest;  and  when  he  can  or  will  no 
longer  preach  or  minister,  he  returns  to  the  common 
body,  hands  his  office  to  another,  and  is  nothing  more 
than  any  private  Christian."  ' 

The  Church,  with  Luther,  is  not  a  visible  organ- 
isation, or  any  earthly  institution,  but  only  "  the 
communion  of  saints,"  or  sum  total  of  all  believers. 
In  his  Large  Catechism  he  construes  "  communion 
of  saints  "  as  in  apposition  to  "  Holy  Christian 
Church."  The  German  word,  Kirche,  he  disliked 
as  a  foreign  word  for  what  would  be  much  better 
expressed  by  Gemeinde,  or  congregation.' 

"  Thank  God!  to-day  a  child  seven  years  old  knows 
what  the  Church  is,  viz.,  saints,  believers,  and  lambs, 
who  hear  the  voice  of  their  Shepherd."  4  "  The  Christ- 
ian Church  on  earth  is  the  communion  and  number  or 
assembly  of  all  Christians  in  all  the  world,  the  only  bride 


1  On  I  Peter  ii.,  9  (1523),  Erlangen,  52  :  72  sq. 

*  On  Ps.  ex.,  4  (1539),  Erlangen,  40:   171  sq. 

*  Large  Catechism,  Erlangen,  21  :   102. 

4  Schmalkald  Articles,  Erlangen,  25  :   142. 


1546]  Luther's  Theology  377 

and  spiritual  body,  whereof  He  is  the  only  Head;  and 
the  bishops  or  pastors  are  not  heads  or  lords  or  bride- 
grooms of  the  same,  but  only  its  ministers,  friends,  and, 
as  the  word  bishop  means,  overseers,  attendants,  or 
presidents.  This  Christian  Church  is  not  confined  to 
the  Roman  Church  or  pope,  but  is  in  all  the  world."  ' 
"  It  cannot  be  brought  together  into  one  assembly,  but 
is  scattered  throughout  the  entire  world."  * 

All  power  in  the  Church  is  spiritual ;  for  it  is  not 
a  worldly  government,  but  its  realm  is  within  men's 
hearts,  and  its  only  weapon  and  means  of  conquest 
is  the  Word. 

"  Church  government  is  one  where  one  has  only  the 
Word.  .  .  .  God,  therefore,  wants  to  maintain  and 
rule  His  Church  only  through  the  Word  and  not  through 
human  power.  Those  invested  with  the  office  of  the 
ministry  have  the  Word  only  for  the  purpose  of  serving, 
and  not  thereby  to  make  themselves  lords. 
Reason  regards  it  confusion  and  dangerous  error  that  all 
ministers  should  be  equal,  and  that  one  should  have  the 
same  power  as  another.  To  avoid  such  confusion,  the 
Pope  has  instituted  an  order  similar  to  civil  governments, 
where  one  is  superior  and  has  more  authority  than  an- 
other. But  we  have  an  express  command  of  our  Lord 
Christ  who  wants  things  different  in  His  kingdom,  which 
is  spiritual,  from  what  they  are  in  a  worldly  kingdom ; 
that  every  one  may  learn  how,  in  the  kingdom  of  God,  it 
is  not  human  authority,  or  great  reputation,  but  only  the 
word  of  God  that  is  to  prevail.  Nevertheless,  in  such 


1  Confession  concerning  the  Lord's  Supper  (1528),  Erlangen,  30: 

369- 

*  On  John  vii.,  40-42  (1530),  Erlangen,  48  :  211. 


378  Martin  Luther  [i483- 

Church  government,  there  is  an  order  and  difference, 
according  to  the  principle:  '  Difference  of  gifts,  but  not 
of  power  ' ;  for  one  has  more  influence  than  another,  and 
a  different  calling  or  gifts  from  another." 

Not  to  the  ministry  as  such,  but  to  the  entire  con- 
gregation, and  to  the  ministry  only  as  it  acts  by  the 
authority  and  in  the  name  of  the  congregation,  be- 
longs the  Power  of  the  Keys. 

"  No  one  but  the  Christian  Church,  /.  e.,  the  assembly 
of  all  believers  in  Christ,  has  this  key;  of  this,  there  is 
no  doubt.  He  who  appropriates  it  to  himself,  be  he 
Pope,  or  who  he  may,  commits  sacrilege."  a  "  Christ 
gives  the  keys  to  the  entire  congregation,  and  not  to  St. 
Peter.  This  is  shown  in  Matt,  xviii.,  18-20,  where  Christ 
gives  them  to  St.  Peter  for  the  entire  congregation."  ' 
"  A  pastor  exercises  the  office  of  the  keys,  baptises, 
preaches,  administers  the  sacrament,  and  does  other 
offices,  whereby  he  serves  the  congregation,  not  for  his 
own  sake,  but  for  the  sake  of  the  congregation,  which 
has  entrusted  the  keys  to  him,  even  though  he  be  a 
rascal.  For  if  he  do  this  instead  of  the  congregation, 
the  Church  does  it."4  "The  key  of  binding  and 
loosing,  is  the  authority  to  teach,  and  not  only  to 
absolve."  * 

"  The  Church  is  bound  neither  to  place,  time,  person, 
nor  to  anything  but  the  confession  concerning  Christ. 

1  On  St.  Bartholomew's  Day,  Luke  xxii.,  24-30,  Melanchthon's 
notes,  Erlangen9,  3  :  446. 

*  On  Confession  (1521),  Erlangen,  27  :  350  sq. 

'/<*.,  363. 

4  On  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul's  Day  (1526),  Erlangen9,  15  :  433. 

§/*.,434. 


1546]  Luther's  Theology  379 

That  is  the  foundation  upon  which  Christ  Himself 
builds  through  the  Holy  Ghost  and  the  preaching  of  the 
Gospel. "  "  The  Church  is  where  one  teaches  the  Word 
of  God  purely,  and  has  baptism  and  the  sacrament."* 
"  The  temple  is  now  as  wide  as  the  world.  For  the 
Word  is  preached  and  the  sacraments  administered  every- 
where; and  wherever  these  are  properly  observed, 
whether  it  be  in  a  ship  on  the  sea,  or  in  a  house  on 
land,  there  is  God's  house,  or  the  Church,  and  there 
God  should  be  sought  and  found."  3  "In  every  parish 
where  children  are  baptised  and  the  Gospel  preached 
and  Christ  proclaimed  to  men,  there  is  the  Church."  * 
"  One  might  as  well  doubt  whether  the  Gospel  be  the 
Word  of  God,  as  to  doubt  this."  "  "  Some  have  this 
Word  entirely  pure,  and  others  not  so  pure.  Those 
having  it  pure  are  said  to  build  gold,  silver,  precious 
stones  upon  the  foundation ;  those  having  it  not  so  pure 
are  said  to  build  upon  the  same  foundation,  wood,  hay, 
and  stubble,  and,  nevertheless,  are  saved,  as  though 
through  fire.  .  .  .  Wherever,  then,  you  hear  or  see 
such  Word  preached,  believed,  confessed,  practised, 
have  no  doubt  that  there  must  be  the  Holy  Catholic 
Church,  /.  e.,  a  Christian,  holy  people,  even  though  they 
be  few.  For  God's  Word  does  not  return  unto  Him 
void  (Is.  lv.,  n),  but  must  have  at  least  a  fourth  of  the 
field.  Were  there  no  sign  but  this  alone,  it  would  be 
enough  to  prove  that  a  holy  Christian  people  must  be 
there.  For  God's  Word  cannot  be  without  God's  peo- 


1  On  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul's  Day  (1526),  Erlangen2,  3  :  386. 
9  For  full  discussion  of  the  marks  of  the  Church,  see  Of  Councils 
and  the  Church  (1539),  Erlangen,  25  :    360  sqq, 

3  On  Matt,  xxi.,  12  sq.  (1538),  Erlangen,  44  :  253. 

4  On  Matt,  xv.,  3  (153?),  Erlangen,  44  :  24. 

*  Von  der  Winkelmesse  (1533),  Erlangen,  31  :  374. 


3&o  Martin  Luther  [i4s3- 

ple,  or  God's  people  without  God's  Word.  If  there  were 
no  Christian  people,  who  would  preach  or  attend  preach- 
ing ?  and  if  there  were  no  Word  of  God,  what  could  or 
would  God's  people  believe  ?  "  ' 

Among  those  under  the  Papacy  he  acknowledges 
that  there  are  true  children  of  God,  and  therefore 
that,  in  this  respect,  the  Church  is  there,  but  main- 
tains that  the  organisation  under  the  Papacy  profess- 
ing to  be  the  Church  is  no  church,  and  that  the 
Pope  is  Antichrist. 

"  I  believe  and  am  sure,  that,  even  under  the  Papacy, 
the  true  Church  remains.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  I 
know  that  the  great  mass  of  its  subjects,  if  we  have  re- 
gard for  all,  are  not  the  Church.  .  .  .  Some  among 
the  mass  are  true  Christians,  although  they  are  misled, 
nevertheless,  by  God's  grace,  they  are  wonderfully  pre- 
served." "  "  If  I  see  that  they  preach  and  confess 
Christ,  as  sent  by  God  the  Father,  that,  by  His  death, 
He  reconciles  us  to  Himself,  and  we  should  obtain 
grace,  we  are  one  in  this  matter,  and  I  regard  them  as 
dear  brethren  in  Christ  and  members  of  the  Christian 
Church;  as  also,  under  the  Papacy,  this  preaching  re- 
mains, so  far  as  the  text  is  concerned,  together  with 
baptism  and  the  sacrament  of  Christ,  and  the  Creed,  etc. 
Although  much  error  has  been  introduced,  yet  many  a 
one  has  been  saved  thereby  on  his  death-bed,  when  he 
dismissed  this  other  false  trust,  and  held  only  to  Christ, 
and  confessed  Him  in  faith."  3 


1  Of  Councils  and  the  Church  (1539),  Erlangen,  25  :  359  sqq. 
*  On  John  xvi.,  I  sqq.  (1538),  Erlangen,  1 8  :  9. 


1546]  Luther's  Theology  381 

That  the  Pope  is  Antichrist,  he  maintains,  proves 
that  he  sits  in  the  temple  of  God,  and  "  not  in  the 
devil's  stable,"  and  this  temple  of  God  is  nothing 
but  the  Holy  Christian  Church. 

"We  do  not  rave,  like  the  fanatics,  so  as  to  reject 
everything  that  the  Pope  has  under  him;  for,  then,  we 
would  reject  also  the  Holy  Christian  Church  [Christen- 
heii\,  the  temple  of  God,  with  all  that  it  has  from  Christ. 
But  we  contend  against  and  reject  the  work  of  the  Pope, 
in  not  abiding  by  those  blessings,  which  the  Christian 
Church  has  inherited  from  the  Apostles,"  etc. 

He  illustrates  the  course  of  the  radical  movement 
against  the  Papacy  by  the  story  of  two  brothers,  in 
a  forest,  attacked  by  a  bear.  When  the  one  was 
seized  and  the  bear  was  lying  upon  him,  the  other 
brother  in  the  excitement  struck  his  brother  while 
aiming  a  deadly  blow  at  their  common  enemy. 
Such  he  regards  the  Christian  Church,  lying  in  the 
embrace  of  Antichrist,  and  such  the  course  of  the 
fanatics  in  inflicting  upon  it  still  more  serious  injury. 
"  For  where  baptism  and  the  sacrament  are  properly 
used,  Christians,  under  the  Papacy,  may  still  escape 
and  be  saved. "  '  So  also  of  his  adversaries  at  the 
other  extreme  he  writes : 

"  We  must  acknowledge  that  the  fanatics  have  the 
Scriptures  and  God's  Word  in  other  articles,  and  that 
he  who  hears  it  of  them  and  believes,  shall  be  saved, 
even  though  they  be  heretics  and  blasphemers  of  Christ. 


1  Against  the  Anabaptists  (1528),  Erlangen,  26:  275. 


382  Martin  Luther  [i483- 

It  is  no  small  grace  that  God  gives  His  Word  through 
such  men."  l 

But  when  an  institution  is  to  be  sought  in  which 
the  Word  of  God  is  to  be  heard,  and  from  which 
the  sacraments  are  to  be  received,  he  declares : 

"  We  do  not  acknowledge  them  as  the  Church,  and  they 
are  not;  we  also  will  not  listen  to  those  things  which, 
under  the  name  of  Church,  they  enjoin  or  forbid." 
"  Here  I  summon  the  Pope  and  his  bishops  and  all  who 
call  themselves  the  Church  to  judgment,  and  ask  them: 
'  Do  you  not  also  believe  in  Christ,  that  you  have  the 
forgiveness  of  sins  only  through  His  blood,  that  this  is 
God's  will,  and  that,  therefore,  you  were  baptised  and 
received  the  Holy  Supper,  and  do  you  not  expect  ever- 
lasting life  ? '  '  Yes,'  they  say,  '  we  also  believe  this.' 
But,  that  you  may  determine  whether  you  actually  be- 
lieve this,  I  ask  further:  '  Why,  then,  do  you  teach  that 
we  adults  have  long  since  lost  our  baptism,  and  every  one 
must  now  do  penance  for  his  sins,  and  be  saved  by  good 
works  ?  and  how  is  it  that  you  now  preach  and  write 
that  Christ  made  satisfaction  and  died  only  for  Original 
Sin,  while  we  must  see  to  it  that  we  do  penance  for  our 
actual  sins  ?  '  Notice  only  how  they  lead  the  people 
away  from  Christ  to  their  own  works.  .  .  .  Thus 
they  make  of  Christ  nothing  but  a  strict  and  wrathful 
judge,  before  whom  we  are  to  tremble,  as  though  He 
would  cast  us  into  Hell ;  as  He  has  been  painted  as  sitting 
in  judgment  upon  a  rainbow,  with  His  mother  Mary  and 
John  the  Baptist,  one  on  each  side,  as  intercessors. 
This  is  to  entirely  abolish  Christ,  so  as  to  prevent  me 

1  Against  the  Anabaptists  (1528),  Erlangen,  26  :  281. 


LUTHER. 
FROM  MELANCHTHON'S  FUNERAL  ORATION  ON  LUTHER,  is*e. 


I54&]  Luther's  Theology  383 

from  seeing  that  He  was  born,  suffered,  died,  and  rose 
again  for  me.  .  .  .  When  I  thus  see  Him,  I  cannot 
run  to  Him,  but  must  flee  from  Him  and  take  refuge 
with  Mary  and  other  saints  instead  of  with  Christ  and 
His  redemption.  Such  are  the  people  who  want  to  be 
called  the  Christian  Church."  ' 

To  these  marks,  whereby  the  presence  of  a  true 
Church  may  be  recognised,  he  adds  the  exercise  of 
the  Power  of  the  Keys,  both  publicly  and  privately; 
the  existence  of  a  ministry  for  the  administration  of 
the  means  of  grace,  which  the  whole  body  can  em- 
ploy only  through  appointed  organs ;  and  the  cross, 
or  the  persecutions  and  trials  of  all  kinds  that  are 
the  lot  of  those  who  follow  Christ.8 

The  unity  of  the  Church,  therefore,  is  found  only 
in  agreement  of  its  members  in  the  confession  and 
teaching  of  the  same  faith  of  the  Gospel. 

"  The  Word  and  doctrine  should  effect  Christian  unity 
or  fellowship;  where  it  is  the  same  and  alike,  the  rest 
will  follow,  but  where  it  is  not,  there  is  no  unity.  Speak 
not  to  me  of  love  or  friendship,  where  the  Word  or  faith 
is  renounced;  for  it  is  not  love,  but  the  Word,  that  brings 
eternal  life,  God's  grace,  and  all  heavenly  treasures."  ' 
"  Never  will  the  Church  be  without  offences,  scandals, 
dissensions,  and  various  infirmities.  It  would  be  de- 
sirable if  these  were  absent,  and  the  comparison  of  the 
Church  to  a  bride  without  spot  or  wrinkle  should  apply; 
but  such  you  will  never  see  it  externally,  for  it  is 

1  On  John  xvi.,  i  sqq.,  Erlangen,  18  :  10  sq. 

1  Of  Councils  and  the  Church,  Erlangen,  25  :  363  sqq. 

1  On  Eph.  vi.,  10  sqq.  (1532),  Erlangen,  19  :  248. 


384  Martin  Luther  [i483- 

always  oppressed  by  tyrants,  vexed  by  heretics,  exer- 
cised by  both  internal  and  external  afflictions.  In 
all  these  dangers,  we  must  retain  the  consolation  that 
the  gates  of  hell  cannot  prevail  against  it,  and  we  must 
proceed  courageously  to  teach,  exhort,  correct,  and 
whatever  else  belongs  to  the  ministry  of  the  Word.  If 
some  are  disobedient,  let  them  go;  it  is  enough  that 
there  are  some,  to  whom  Christ  and  the  ministry  of 
the  Gospel  are  the  resurrection."  '  "  The  reproach 
is  sometimes  scornfully  urged  against  the  Christian 
Church,  that  dissensions,  sects,  errors,  heresies,  and 
offences  are  so  numerous ;  as  though  the  doctrine  of  the 
Gospel  should  be  regarded  false  and  incorrect,  since  the 
Christian  Church  should  be  harmonious  and  at  peace. 
These  critics  are  wise  and  excellent  men,  since  they  are 
able  to  teach  the  Holy  Spirit  how  to  rule  the  Church  ! 
Indeed,  if  the  devil  were  not  always  biting  Christ  in  the 
heel,  it  would  be  very  easy  to  have  such  a  quiet  and 
peaceable  Church.  But  he  is  Christ's  enemy,  and  in- 
cessantly stirs  up  in  the  Church  war  and  sects  and  dis- 
turbance. .  .  .  The  dear  Church  must  be  without 
peace,  if  it  will  not  listen  to  the  enemy  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ.  How  can  it  be  otherwise  ?  For  the  heel-biter, 
the  devil,  will  not  rest,  or  give  peace  to  the  head-crusher; 
and,  on  the  other  hand,  the  head-crusher,  our  Lord,  will 
not  endure  such  a  heel-biter."  * 

So  also  the  holiness  of  the  Church  is  entirely  a 
matter  of  faith. 

"  We  are  to  believe  that  the  Church  is  holy;  we  can- 
not see  it.     For  the  Creed  says:  '  I  believe  that  there  is 

1  On  Ps.  cxxxii.,  n,  Op.  ex.,  20  :   260. 

1  Die  drei  Symbola  (1538),  Erlangen,  23  :  263. 


1546]  Luther's  Theology  385 

a  Holy  Christian  Church,'  it  does  not  say:  '  I  see  a  Holy 
Church.'  If  you  judge  according  to  the  outward  appear- 
ance, you  will  see  that  it  is  sinful  and  infirm,  and  has 
numerous  offences,  so  that  one  is  inclined  to  impatience, 
another  to  wrath,  one  has  one  fault,  and  another,  another. 
Hence,  it  is  written,  not:  '  I  see,'  but:  '  I  believe  there  is  a 
Holy  Christian  Church. '  I  refer  to  this,  as  a  consolation 
against  those  who  when  they  find  in  our  body  the  least 
scab  or  freckle,  at  once  make  much  of  it,  and  say:  '  Lo, 
these  are  fruits  of  the  Gospel!  ' 

The  perpetuity  of  the  Church  he  rests  upon  the 
promise  of  the  abiding  presence  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
upon  earth,  to  lead  believers  into  all  truth  (John 
xiv.,  17,  1 8).  The  Christian  Church,  therefore, 
must  remain,  even  though  there  should  be  but  two 
believers  on  earth.  As  in  the  future  so  also  in  the 
past.  It  is  no  new  Church  that  came  into  being  at 
the  Reformation.  '  We  are  the  true  ancient 
Church,  one  Body  and  one  Communion  of  Saints 
with  the  entire  Holy  Christian  Church."  "  Our 
baptism  is  not  new,  or  one  invented  at  this  time, 
but  it  is  the  same  old  baptism  which  Christ  insti- 
tuted, and  with  which  the  Apostles  and  the  first 
Church  and  all  Christians  since  then  have  bap- 
tised."' "We  have  the  Lord's  Supper  just  as 
Christ  instituted  it,  and  the  Apostles  and  the  entire 
Christian  Church  have  used  it;  and  thus  eat  and 
drink  from  one  table  with  the  ancient  and  entire 
Christian  Church."4  "We  devise  nothing  new, 


1  On  Gal.  v.,  9,  Com.  Gal.,  3  :  40. 

*  Against  Hans  Wurst  (1541).  Erlangen,  26  :  12  sq. 

*  Ib.,  13.  4  U>. 


3$6  Martin  Luther  [1483- 

but  hold  and  abide  by  the  old  Word  of  God  as  the 
Ancient  Church  did;  we  are,  therefore,  with  the 
same  true  Ancient  Church,  one  Church  believing 
and  teaching  one  Word  of  God."  '  He  freely  ac- 
knowledged his  indebtedness:  "  Everything  have 
we  received  from  the  churches  among  you  (not  of 
you). "  *  '  We  are  not  ashamed  of  praising  what- 
ever good  we  find  in  the  papal  churches."  While 
antiquity  of  itself  has  no  claim,  for  "  then  the  devil 
would  be  the  most  righteous  person  on  earth,  since 
he  is  now  over  five  thousand  years  old,"'  never- 
theless, 

"  if  what  has  been  in  use,  from  of  old,  is  to  be  changed 
or  abolished,  an  indubitable  proof  must  be  given  that  it 
is  contrary  to  God's  Word.  Otherwise,  what  is  not 
against  us  is  for  us  (Mark  vi.,  38;  Luke  ix.,  49).  Thus, 
in  abolishing  cloisters  and  masses  and  clerical  celibacy, 
we  have  cited  clear  passages  of  Scripture  against  them. 
If  we  had  not  done  this,  we  should  have  allowed  them 
to  remain  as  they  were."  *  "  It  is  dangerous  and  terrible 
to  hear  or  believe  anything  contrary  to  the  unanimous 
testimony,  faith,  and  doctrine  of  the  entire  Holy  Christ- 
ian Church,  which,  for  over  fifteen  hundred  years  now, 
it  has  unanimously  held  throughout  all  the  world."  * 

No  new  articles  of  faith  or  good  works  can  be 
prescribed  by  the  Church,  whose  entire  office  it  is 


1  Against  Hans  Wurst  (1541),  Erlangen,  26  :  14.  '73.,  25. 

1  Answer  to  Henry  VIII.  (1522),  Erlangen,  28  :  358. 
4  Against  the  Anabaptists  (1528),  Erlangen,  26  :  269. 
*  Letter  to  Duke  Albert  of  Prussia  (1532),  De  Wette,  4  :  354  ;  Er- 
langen, 54  :  288a. 


1546]  Luther's  Theology  387 

simply  to  declare  what  it  finds  laid  down  in  Holy 
Scripture.  The  members  of  the  Church  are  in  duty 
bound  to  test  all  the  Church's  teaching  by  the 
Scriptures,  and  never  to  be  satisfied  with  a  doctrine 
simply  because  it  has  been  approved  by  councils  or 
synods  or  distinguished  teachers  or  majorities. 

"  If  you  say:  '  How  can  we  know  what  is  God's  Word, 
and  what  is  right  or  wrong  ?  We  must  learn  this  of  the 
Pope  or  councils. '  Let  them  decide  what  they  will,  I 
tell  you  that  you  cannot,  in  that  way,  satisfy  your  con- 
science. Your  life  is  at  stake,  and  you  must  decide  the 
question  for  yourself.  Until  God  says  in  your  heart: 
'  This  is  God's  Word,'  the  matter  will  not  rest.  .  . '  . 
They  quote  the  saying  of  Augustine:  '  I  would  not  be- 
lieve the  Gospel,  unless  the  authority  of  the  Church  had 
moved  me  thereto  ' ;  and  think  that,  by  this,  they  have 
won.  But  I  say:  '  What  matters  it  to  me  whether  Augus- 
tine or  Jerome,  St.  Peter  or  St.  Paul,  and  what  is  much 
more,  the  archangel  Gabriel  from  heaven,  say  this  ? 
Nothing  of  all  this  helps  me.  I  must  have  God's  Word. 
I  will  hear  what  God,  the  Lord,  will  say."  "  * 

Luther's  doctrine  of  the  right  of  private  judg- 
ment, it  will  be  noticed,  is  not  that  every  one  is  at 
liberty  to  pass  what  judgment  he  pleases  with  respect 
to  spiritual  things.  There  is  a  fixed  and  unerring 
norm  which  the  private  Christian  is  under  as  much 
obligation  to  follow  as  any  judge  is  restrained  from 
arbitrary  verdicts  by  the  law  that  he  has  sworn  to 
administer.  "  Such  judging  of  doctrine  must  not 


1  First  sermon  on  Gospel  for  Eighth  Sunday  after  Trinity,  Erlang- 
en9,  13  :  230. 


388  Martin  Luther 

be  according  to  our  own  thoughts,  or  from  one's 
own  wisdom,  but  there  must  be  a  fixed,  clear  rule, 
according  to  which  to  judge;  and  such  rule  is  the 
word  of  Christ.  This  alone  is  the  norm  and  test, 
as  we  have  often  said. ' ' '  Upon  this  principle,  then, 
"  Christ  takes  away  from  bishops  and  learned  men 
and  councils  the  right  of  judging  concerning  doc- 
trine, and  gives  it  to  every  one,  and  to  all  Christians 
in  common,  as  He  says  (John  x.,  4):  '  My  sheep 
know  My  voice ;  My  sheep  know  not  the  voice  of 
strangers. ' ' " 

Thus  not  only  with  respect  to  the  faith  of  the  in- 
dividual, but  also  with  respect  to  the  rights  of  con- 
gregations. 

"  Even  though  the  bishops  were  what  they  should  be, 
and  wished  to  promote  the  Gospel,  and  would  appoint 
preachers  of  the  right  kind,  nevertheless  they  should  not 
do  this  without  the  will,  election,  and  call  of  the  con- 
gregation, except  where  necessity  constrains  them  to  act 
to  prevent  souls  from  going  to  ruin  because  of  the  absence 
of  God's  Word.'"  . 

Luther's  eschatology  is  marked  by  the  same  prac- 
tical features  that  determine  the  other  articles  of  his 
system.  Questions  concerning  the  state  of  the  dead 
he  dismisses  as  relatively  unimportant.  "  I  pray  in 


1  Second  sermon  on  Gospel  for  Eighth  Sunday  after  Trinity,  Er- 
langen5,  13  :  275. 

*"  That  a  Christian  congregation  has  the  authority  to  judge  all 
doctrine,  and  call  and  depose  ministers  "  (1523),  Erlangen,  22  :  143. 

3  16.,  149. 


1546]  Luther's  Theology  389 

Christ  that  your  teachers  would  avoid  questions  con- 
cerning the  saints  in  Heaven  and  the  dead,  and 
would  turn  the  people  therefrom,  since  there  will  be 
no  end  to  such  questions,  if  you  allow  but  one."  ' 
Salvation,  without  faith  in  Christ,  he  declares  im- 
possible. '  We  have  strong  passages  that,  without 
faith,  God  neither  will  nor  can  save  any  one  (Mark 
xvi.,  16;  Heb.  xi.,6;  John  Hi.,  6;  v.,  18).  If  now 
God  save  any  one  without  faith,  He  acts  against 
His  own  words  and  convicts  Himself  of  false- 
hood." '  There  is  no  help  or  grace  without  Jesus 
Christ,  who  has  helped  us  gratuitously,  since  we  are 
all  sinners,  at  the  cost  of  His  own  blood  and  suffer- 
ing. If,  then,  any  should  take  exception  to  this, 
keep  silent ;  it  is  better  than  for  you  to  deny  such  a 
clear  and  certain  foundation."  The  heathen  who 
experienced  God's  grace  under  the  Old  Testament 
were  brought  to  faith  "  when  they  heard  the  ser- 
mons and  doctrine  of  the  patriarchs."4  If  those 
who  die  without  faith  be  ultimately  saved,  he  main- 
tains it  can  occur  only  if  faith  be  given  in  the  world 
to  come;  for  which  he  can  find  no  warrant  in  God's 
Word.  "  There  is  yet  another  question,  viz.  : 
Whether  at  death  or  after  death,  God  could  give 
faith,  and  thus  save  through  faith  ?  Who  is  it  that 
doubts  that  He  could  do  this  ?  But  that  He  does 


1  To  Christians  at  Erfurt  (1522),  Erlangen,  53:  no;  De  Wette, 
2  :  20. 
*  To  Hans  von  Rechenberg  (1522),  Erlangen,  22  :  34  ;  De  Wette, 

2:  455- 

3  On  Gen.  xx.  (1527),  Erlangen,  33  :  385. 

4  On  Gen.  xlvii.  (between  1535  and  1545).  Op.  ex.,  n  :  76. 


390  Martin  Luther 

this  cannot  be  proved."  '  Concerning  the  question 
of  consciousness  between  death  and  the  resurrection, 
he  is  much  perplexed.  While  he  applies  the  analogy 
of  sleep,  he  is  unwilling  to  accept  it  as  a  satisfactory 
explanation. 

"  How  the  soul  rests  we  ought  not  to  know.  It  is 
certain  that  it  lives.  Consider  men  in  a  trance  or  sleep- 
ing. .  .  .  I  do  not  feel  that  I  am  living  when  I  am 
asleep.  .  .  .  Often  when  I  have  earnestly  tried  to 
notice  the  moment  of  my  falling  asleep,  and  the  moment 
of  my  waking,  I  have  wakened  already  before  I  took 
notice.''*  "Nevertheless,  the  sleep  of  this  life  and 
that  of  the  future  life  differ;  for  in  this  life,  man, 
fatigued  by  his  daily  labour,  at  nightfall  goes  to  his 
couch,  as  in  peace,  to  sleep  there,  and  enjoys  rest;  nor 
does  he  know  anything  of  evil,  whether  of  fire  or  of 
murder.  But  the  soul  does  not  sleep  in  such  way,  but 
watches  and  experiences  visions  of  angels  and  the  like."  * 

The  question  of  the  immediate  punishment  of  the 
godless  at  death  is  one  upon  which  he  repeatedly 
expressed  himself  unwilling  to  give  any  opinion. 
While  prayers  for  the  dead  are  without  any  Scriptural 
foundation,  he  is  unwilling  to  forbid  them  absolutely. 

For  the  dead,  since  Scripture  mentions  nothing 
concerning  them,  I  do  not  regard  it  a  sin  to  pray 
thus,  or  the  like :  '  O  God,  if  Thou  hast  such  rela- 
tions with  souls  that  Thou  canst  help  them,  be 
gracious  to  them  ' ;  and  if  this  occur  once  or  twice, 

1  To  von  Rechenberg,  De  Wette,  2  :  455. 
1  On  Gen.  xxvi.,  Op.  ex.,  6  :  329. 
1  On  Gen.  xxv.,  Op.  ex.,  6  :  120. 


JUSTUS  JONAS. 

AFTER  A  PORTRAIT  BY  L.  CRANACH,    GENEALOGY,"  1543. 


1546]  Luther's  Theology  391 

let  that  be  enough."  '  Hell,  he  teaches,  is  not  en- 
tered  by  the  wicked  until  the  Last  Day.  "  Hell,  at 
this  place,  cannot  be  the  proper  Hell,  which  will 
begin  at  the  Last  Day."*  "  In  this  rich  man,  I 
think,  that  is  indicated  which  would  occur  in  all  un- 
believers if  their  eyes  should  be  opened  in  death,  or 
under  the  necessities  of  death.  This  can  happen 
only  for  a  moment,  and  then  cease  again  until  the 
Last  Day,  as  it  pleases  God."3  Almost  the  very 
words  of  the  Augsburg  Confession  (Art.  XVII.)  are 
used  in  rejecting  the  doctrine  of  a  reign  of  Christ 
upon  earth  prior  to  the  Last  Day.4 

The  end  of  the  world  he  believed  to  be  very  near. 

"  The  world  is  running  so  hastily  towards  its  end  that 
serious  thoughts  often  occur  as  to  whether  the  Last  Day 
may  not  break  before  the  translation  of  Holy  Scriptures 
into  German  can  be  completed.  For  it  is  certain  that 
no  more  temporal  things  prophesied  in  the  Scriptures  are 
to  be  fulfilled.  The  Roman  Empire  has  fallen;  the 
Turk  has  reached  his  height;  the  glory  of  the  Papacy  is 
declining,  and  the  world  is  cracking  at  all  ends,  as  though 
about  to  break  and  fall."  * 

His  belief  of  this  nearness  of  the  end  had  probably 
much  to  do  with  his  change  of  opinion  concerning 
the  future  of  the  Jews,  whose  general  conversion  he 

1  Confession  concerning  the  Lord's  Supper  (1528),  Erlangen,  30 : 
370. 

*  On  Gospel  for  First  Sunday  after  Trinity,  Erlangen*,  13  :  13. 
*I6.,  15. 

4  On  Matt,  xxiv.,  Erlangen,  45  :  HO. 

5  Introduction  to  Daniel  (1530),  Erlangen,  41  :  233. 


392  Martin  Luther 

first  taught,  but  for  whom  in  his  later  years  he  had 
no  hope.1 

Often  he  portrays  in  most  sombre  pictures,  which 
his  opponents  for  generations  have  industriously 
published  as  though  they  were  confessions  of  fail- 
ures, the  low  moral  tone  and  immoralities  of  many 
of  those  to  whom  the  Gospel  had  been  preached  as 
he  has  restored  it.  But  never  does  he  waver  con- 
cerning his  confidence  that  it  has  been  God's  Word 
that  he  has  preached,  or  in  his  purpose,  so  long  as 
life  lasts,  to  continue  in  the  course  he  had  begun. 
In  the  fact  that  the  more  the  Gospel  is  preached  the 
worse  the  world  grows,  he  not  only  draws  a  com- 
parison with  the  experience  of  men  of  God  who  have 
preceded  him,  and  whose  lives  are  recorded  in 
Scripture,  but  also  sees  therein  a  fulfilment  of 
prophecy,  and  a  token  of  the  deliverance  that  is 
approaching  with  the  descent  of  God's  judgments 
upon  the  ungodly." 

The  denial  of  the  doctrine  of  the  resurrection  of 
the  body,  he  says,  is  equivalent  to  saying  "  that 
there  is  no  Gospel,  no  baptism,  no  Christ,  no 
God."  The  identity  of  the  resurrection-body  with 
that  borne  in  this  life  is  maintained,  only  a  change 

1  On  St.  Stephen's  Day  (1521),  Erlangen*,  10  :  244  sq.,  compared 
with  Of  the  Jews  and  their  Lies  (1543),  Erlangen,  32  :  99-274. 

2  Such  passages,  among  many  others,  industriously  collected  by 
unfriendly  critics,  of  whose  methods  the  citations  in  Dollinger's  Die 
Reformation^  ihre  inner e  Entwick  lung  und ihre  Wirkungen  (Regens- 
burg,  1848),  i  :  289-359,  are  a  fair  specimen,  misleading  no  one  who 
reads  them  in  the  context,  are  Op.  ex.,  5  :  328  ;  Erlangen*,  14  :  89- 
92  ;  Erlangen,  17  :  457  ;  36  :  302,  401  ;  48  :  198. 

3  On  i  Cor.  xv.,  35-38  (1544),  Erlangen,  19  :  107. 


1546]  Luther's  Theology  393 

of  properties  being  admitted,  that  does  not  extend 
so  far  even  as  to  eradicate  distinctions  of  sex. 
'  The  same  body  and  soul  which  each  one  has,  will 
remain,  with  all  the  members;  but  the  body  will 
have  another  form  and  use,  and  will  not  eat  or 
drink,  etc.,  and  will  need  none  of  those  things  be- 
longing to  this  transitory  life."1  "  The  body  will 
have  sharp  eyes,  so  as  to  be  able  to  see  through  a 
mountain,  and  quick  ears,  so  as  to  be  able  to  hear 
from  one  end  of  the  earth  to  the  other."  * 

"  I  would  not  surrender  a  moment  of  heaven  for  all 
the  possessions  and  joy  of  all  the  world,  even  though 
they  should  last  for  thousands  and  thousands  of  years. 
Only  think  what  you  would  like  to  have!  Is  it  money 
and  clothing  ?  He  will  clothe  you  more  richly  than 
your  Emperor  can  be  clad.  Is  it  to  be  a  lord  ?  You 
shall  have  more  than  you  can  desire.  You  will  be  sharp 
to  see  and  hear  for  over  a  hundred  miles,  through  walls 
and  battlements,  and  so  light,  that,  in  a  moment,  you 
can  be  wherever  you  wish,  either  here  upon  earth  or 
above  in  the  clouds." 

The  world  will  be  transfigured  and  shine  in  new 
beauty.  "  Now  it  has  on  its  working-clothes;  then 
it  will  put  on  its  Easter  and  Whitsunday  robes."  * 
"  Everything  will  be  far  more  beautiful  than  now, 
water  and  trees  and  grass,  and  the  earth  will  be  en- 
tirely new." 

1  On  i  Cor.  xv.,  39~44(i544),  Erlangen,  19  :  135  sq.;  cf.  51 :  219. 
1  Id.,  1 20. 

3  On  I  Cor.  xv.  (1534),  Erlangen,  51  :  184. 

4  On  Gen.  xlv.,  22  ;  Op.  ex.,  10  :  392. 
s  On  I  Cor.  xv.,  Erlangen,  51  :  183. 


394  Martin  Luther  [i546- 

"  If  the  sun  is  now  a  beautiful  bright  light,  so  that  no 
man,  however  sharp  and  clear  his  eyes,  can  endure  its 
brilliancy  without  being  overcome,  what  will  it  be  in  the 
life  to  come,  when  the  sun  shall  shine  sevenfold  more 
•early  than  now!  Bright,  clear  eyes  will  be  given,  that 
we  may  endure  such  sunlight.  If  Adam  had  remained 
in  the  innocency  in  which  he  was  created,  he  would  have 
had  bright,  clear  eyes  that  could  have  gazed  upon  the 
sun  like  an  eagle.  In  that  day,  all  shall  be  made  new 
and  beautiful  once  more.  The  creature  shall  be  made 
free  from  the  service  of  this  transitory  life  and  be  intro- 
duced into  the  glorious  liberty  of  the  children  of  God." 

1  On  Ps.  viii.  (1537),  Erlangen,  39  :  36. 


THE  LORD'S  SUPPER, 
A  MEDAL  OF  1546. 


COMMEMORATING  THE  DEFEAT  OF 

JOHN  FREDERICK, 

APRIL  24  1547. 


CHAPTER  XV 

HOME   LIFE  AND   LAST  DAYS 

AS  we  approach  the  closing  events  of  this  career, 
so  crowded  with  labours  and  incidents  of  far- 
reaching  significance  that  it  is  difficult  to  embrace 
them  within  a  brief  compass,  attention  must  be 
given  to  some  of  the  details  of  his  private  life.  No 
engagements,  however  pressing,  were  allowed  to  in- 
terfere with  his  constant  association  with  his  family. 
In  its  circle  he  daily  found  relief  and  relaxation 
from  his  numerous  cares. 

Five  children  survived  infancy.  John  (Hans), 
born  in  1526,  became  a  jurist  and  counsellor  at 
Weimar.  Martin,  born  in  1531,  studied  theology, 
but  his  health  being  frail,  he  never  entered  the 
ministry;  he  married  well  and  died  early.  Paul, 
the  most  gifted  of  the  three  sons,  born  in  1533, 
studied  medicine  and  became  physician,  first  to  the 
Elector  of  Brandenburg  and  afterwards  to  the 
Elector  August  of  Saxony.  His  youngest  daughter, 

395 


396  Martin  Luther  [1483- 

Margaretta,  married  a  nobleman  by  the  name  of 
von  Kunheim.  While  but  one  attained  eminence, 
none  of  them  in  any  way  disgraced  the  good  name 
which  they  bore.  The  last  descendant  in  a  direct 
line,  Martin  Gottlob,  a  Dresden  lawyer,  died  Novem- 
ber 3,  1759. 

The  most  pathetic  scene  in  Luther's  life  was 
that  of  the  death  of  his  daughter,  Magdalena,  in 
her  fourteenth  year,  September  20,  1542,  a  child 
of  singular  depth  of  character,  amiable,  affection- 
ate, and  deeply  religious.  Without  the  ordinary 
failings  of  children,  the  father  testified  that  she  had 
never  done  an  act  that  required  parental  reproof. 
Deeply  attached  to  her  brother  John,  when  her  illness 
became  alarming,  he  was  brought  from  school  at 
Torgau  to  be  with  her  in  her  last  days.  A  profound 
impression  was  made  upon  all  Luther's  acquaint- 
ances, as  they  saw  or  heard  of  a  man  of  such  rugged 
strength  overcome  with  emotion  by  the  side  of  his 
dying  child,  and  asking  her:  "  Magdalena,  darling 
daughter,  is  it  not  true  that  you  would  like  to  stay 
here  with  your  father,  and  yet  that  you  want  to  go 
to  your  Father  above  ?  "  '  Yes,  dear  father,"  came 
the  answer,  "  just  as  God  wills."  "  Dear  little 
daughter!  the  spirit  is  willing,  but  the  flesh  is  weak." 
Then  aside:  "  Oh,  how  I  love  her!  If  the  flesh  is 
so  strong,  what  must  the  spirit  be !  I  am  angry  with 
myself  for  not  rejoicing  and  being  thankful."  Gen- 
tly, in  her  father's  arms,  the  little  girl  fell  asleep.  As 
he  gazed  upon  her  in  her  coffin,  he  exclaimed  :  ' '  Dear 
Lenchen,  thou  shalt  rise  again,  and  shine  as  a  star, 
aye,  as  the  sun  !  "  When  his  friends  comforted  him, 


Home  Life  and  Last  Days        397 

the  answer  was :  "  I  have  sent  a  saint,  a  living  saint, 
to  Heaven  !  "    To  his  friend,  Justus  Jonas,  he  wrote : 

'  The  features,  words,  movements  of  this  most  obe- 
dient and  reverent  daughter,  both  living  and  dying,  re- 
main deeply  imprinted  on  my  heart,  so  that  not  even  the 
death  of  Christ,  in  comparison  with  which  all  other 
deaths  are  as  nothing,  can  altogether  efface  this.  Hers 
was  so  mild,  so  sweet,  and,  in  every  way,  so  lovely  a  dis- 
position! Blessed  be  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who  has 
called,  chosen,  and  glorified  her.  Oh,  that  such  a  death, 
as  well  as  such  a  life,  were  mine,  and  that  of  mine!  "  ' 

In  his  house  various  theological  students  served 
at  different  times  as  private  instructors.  His  wife's 
aunt,  "  Muhme  Lene,"  as  she  was  familiarly  called, 
a  former  nun,  made  her  home  with  the  family. 
Luther's  messages  and  allusions  to  her  in  his  letters 
show  how  highly  she  was  esteemed.  Two  nieces, 
and  while  they  were  students,  five  nephews,  sons  of 
his  two  sisters  and  his  brother,  were  also  inmates  of 
the  house.  A  number  of  students  boarded  usually 
at  his  table.  His  servant,  Wolf  Sieberger,  generally 
known  as  "  Wolf,"  was  a  character  who  afforded 
the  family  much  amusement.  A  student  too  dull 
to  have  any  prospects  of  intellectual  success,  Wolf 
had  acquiesced  in  the  general  judgment  of  his  in- 
capacity, and  was  content  thereafter  to  serve  as 
Luther's  factotum.  He  did  many  offices  for  the 
family  and  entertained  the  children.  Once  when  he 
entered  into  an  elaborate  plan,  by  means  of  nets,  to 
catch  birds,  Luther  drew  up  a  formal  charge,  "  Com- 


De  Wette,  5  :  500  sqq. 


398  Martin  Luther  [1483- 

plaint  of  the  Birds  to  Martin  Luther  concerning  his 
Servant,  Wolf  Sieberger."  ' 

He  kept  open  house,  and  was  often  imposed  upon. 
Guests  came  from  all  quarters  and  from  all  classes 
of  the  community.  During  the  epidemics  of  the 
plague  his  house  was  crowded  with  those  who  fled 
from  the  contagion  at  their  homes.  A  frequent 
visitor  was  the  Electoral  Princess  of  Brandenburg, 
exiled  for  a  time  on  account  of  her  faith,  who  was 
once  nursed  through  an  illness  of  four  months  in 
Luther's  house. 

Luther's  habits  were  the  simplest.  Without  being, 
an  ascetic,  and  believing  in  the  enjoyment  of  the 
good  gifts  of  God  as  a  Christian  duty,  he  was  most 
temperate  in  regard  to  food  and  drink  and  very 
plain  in  his  dress.  At  the  table,  especially  in  the 
evening,  when  his  mind  was  not  preoccupied  by  the 
important  subjects  on  which  he  was  writing,  he  gave 
the  freest  expression  to  his  judgment  on  all  subjects 
suggested  by  his  guests,  condensing  the  matured 
fruit  of  his  studies  and  wide  observation  into  a  few 
words,  and  stating  it  in  the  most  popular  form. 
Notes  of  these  sayings  were  taken  by  a  number  of 
the  students  who  boarded  at  his  table,  such  as  Veit 
Dietrich,  Matthesius,  Aurifaber,  and  others,  and 
these  notes  were  finally  collected  into  his  renowned 
Table-  Talk. 

In  later  years  the  eminent  executive  ability  of  his 
wife,  who,  besides  caring  for  their  own  home,  also 
administered  a  small  farm  at  Zulsdorf,  near  Witten- 
berg, together  with  the  increase  in  his  salary,  and 

1  Erlangen,  64  :  347. 


DR.  JOHN  MATTHESIUS. 

FROM  A  WOOD-CUT  BY  TOBIAS  8TIMMER. 


1546]       Home  Life  and  Last  Days        399 

annual  gifts  from  princes  and  other  friends,  raised  him 
above  all  want,  and  gave  him  some  of  the  comforts 
of  life  which  in  his  earlier  years  he  had  not  enjoyed. 

The  company  of  a  small  circle  of  his  most  intimate 
friends  he  particularly  welcomed.  Such  was  the 

Sanhedrim,"  whom  he  entertained  once  a  week 
while  the  translation  of  the  Bible  was  in  progress  of 
revision,  and  such  also  were  the  birthday  gatherings 
at  his  table  on  November  loth  of  each  year.  Me- 
lanchthon  tells  us  of  such  a  company  held  on 
Luther's  last  birthday. 

Besides  music  and  the  culture  of  flowers  he  found 
recreation  for  a  time  in  the  use  of  a  turning-lathe, 
and  afterwards  in  bowling,  for  which  he  had  an  alley 
built  in  his  garden.  He  delighted  in  short  excur- 
sions into  the  country,  visiting  with  his  wife  and 
children  the  neighbouring  pastors,  gathering  fruit, 
and  partaking,  in  truly  modern  picnic  fashion,  of  the 
ample  luncheon  from  the  family  basket. 

But  the  end  rapidly  approached,  and  during  the 
early  part  of  the  summer  of  1545,  his  old  infirmity, 
the  calculus,  gave  him  the  greatest  discomfort. 
Anxieties  as  to  the  coming  council  and  the  Turks 
troubled  him.  His  experience  with  some  of  his  old 
friends  made  him  suspicious  and  irritable.  Some  of 
his  confidants  were  not  judicious,  and  excited  the 
sick  man  by  their  reports  of  irregularities  as  well  as  of 
imagined  projects,  from  the  consideration  of  which 
he  had  been  excluded.  At  the  close  of  July  he  de- 
termined to  accompany  Cruciger  to  Zeitz,  whither 
the  latter  had  been  called  with  Bishop  Amsdorf,  to 
adjust  some  church  troubles.  His  son  John  and 


400  Martin  Luther  [i483- 

John's  tutor  accompanied  him.  Although  needing 
absolute  quiet,  he  had  to  listen  to  tales  concerning 
things  at  Wittenberg,  of  which  he  had  never  heard 
at  home.  Injudicious  scandalmongers  drove  him 
almost  frantic.  From  Leipzig  he  wrote  to  his  wife 
that  he  wished  never  to  return  to  Wittenberg. 
Their  possessions  there  could  be  sold.  The  family 
might  retire  to  their  little  farm  at  Zulsdorf.  His 
salary,  which  was  now  that  of  an  Emeritus  Pro- 
fessor, would  still  be  available.  The  disorderly  con- 
duct of  the  young  women  of  Wittenberg,  their 
fashionable  dress,  which  he  pronounces  indecent, 
and  the  utter  unconcern  of  those  whose  duty  it  was 
to  reprove  them,  are  particularly  mentioned  as 
reasons  why  he  should  leave.  "  Away  from  such  a 
Sodom !  I  would  sooner  wander  about  and  beg  my 
bread  than  vex  my  last  days  with  the  irregular  pro- 
ceedings at  Wittenberg."'  If  she  pleased,  she 
might  tell  this  to  Melanchthon  and  Bugenhagen. 
When  the  contents  of  the  letter  became  known  to 
the  authorities  they  occasioned  no  small  amount  of 
consternation.  The  two  colleagues  just  mentioned 
hastened  to  persuade  him  to  dismiss  all  such 
thoughts,  and  the  Elector,  probably  recognising  a 
physical  cause  for  the  despondency,  sent  his  physi- 
cian with  a  similar  message.  They  met  Luther  at 
Merseburg,  where  he  was  assisting  Amsdorf  in  the 
consecration  of  George  of  Anhalt  as  bishop.  On 
August  i6th,  yielding  to  the  entreaties  of  his  friends, 
he  reached  home,  after  conferring  at  Torgau  with 
the  Elector. 

1  De  Wette,  5  :  752  sq. 


1546]       Home  Life  and  Last  Days        401 

In  the  autumn  he  was  called  to  his  old  home  in 
the  domain  of  the  Counts  of  Mansfeld.  For  years 
he  had  presented  the  complaints  of  some  of  the 
peasants,  among  them  his  own  relatives,  to  Count 
Albrecht,  concerning  the  oppression  which  they 
claimed  to  be  suffering.  These  communications 
were  always  kindly  received.  A  dispute  having 
arisen  between  the  counts  themselves,  they  agreed 
to  refer  the  matter  to  Luther  as  one  of  the  arbitra- 
tors. His  first  trip  in  October  was  fruitless,  as  the 
sudden  attempt  of  Henry  of  Brunswick  to  recover 
his  territory  had  called  the  counts  away,  but  Luther 
had  the  satisfaction  of  rejoicing  over  the  complete 
victory  gained  by  the  Landgrave,  and  the  capture 
of  Henry  and  his  eldest  son.  He  wrote  an  open 
letter  to  the  Elector  and  Landgrave,  urging  them  to 
hold  Henry  in  captivity.  The  negotiations  between 
the  counts  were  again  opened.  After  completing 
his  lectures  on  Genesis,  upon  which  he  had  been 
occupied  for  years,  on  November  i/th,  with  the 
words:  "  I  can  do  no  more.  I  am  weak.  God 
grant  me  a  blessed  end  !  "  he  started  for  Mansfeld 
at  the  close  of  December,  accompanied  by  Melanch- 
thon.  But  the  proceedings  had  scarcely  begun  when 
Melanchthon  was  taken  ill,  and  Luther  hastened  to 
Wittenberg  with  him,  promising  that  he  would  soon 
return.  Reaching  Wittenberg,  January  6,  1546,  he 
preached  for  the  last  time  there,  and  with  unusual 
power,  January  i/th.  On  the  23d  he  started  for 
the  third  time  on  his  errand  of  peace,  taking  with 
him  his  sons,  their  tutor,  and  Aurifaber.  Eisleben 

was  appointed  for  the  conference,  and  they  expected 
26 


402  Martin  Luther  [1483- 

to  reach  their  destination  on  the  day  after  leaving 
Wittenberg.  But  a  freshet  had  swollen  the  Saale, 
and  the  flood  and  floating  ice  detained  them  at 
Halle  as  guests  of  Jonas  until  the  28th.  On  this 
visit,  or  the  one  shortly  before,  Luther  presented 
Jonas  with  a  glass  goblet,  bearing  the  following  in- 
scription in  Latin : 

"  Luther  himself  but  glass,  to  Jonas  glass,  gives  glass, 
That  each  may  know  how  like  to  fragile  glass  he  is." 

Just  as  they  were  entering  his  native  place,  Luther, 
who  had  been  walking  and  become  overheated,  was 
prostrated  by  an  attack  of  oppression  on  his  breast, 
attended  with  a  sense  of  suffocation  and  faintness, 
that  greatly  alarmed  his  companions.  Taken  to  a 
house  near  by,  hot  cloths  were  applied,  and  under 
this  treatment  he  promptly  rallied.  By  the  next 
Sunday  he  was  able  to  preach.  His  boys  meanwhile 
were  sent  to  Mansfeld  to  spend  the  time  with  their 
relatives,  while  their  father  was  engaged  in  the 
arbitration. 

A  number  of  nobles  had  been  called  in  to  partici- 
pate in  the  proceedings,  among  them  Wolfgang  of 
Anhalt  and  the  Count  of  Schwartzburg.  The  tedious 
processes  of  the  law,  and  what  Luther  regarded  as 
the  senseless  quibbling  of  the  lawyers,  were  irksome 
in  the  extreme.  As  the  case  was  prolonged,  he 
thought  once  of  bringing  it  to  an  abrupt  termination 
by  taking  his  departure,  but  was  deterred  by  a  sense 
of  duty  to  his  country.  He  wrote  to  Melanchthon, 
however,  suggesting  that,  in  case  the  proceedings 
were  carried  much  farther,  the  Elector  should  be 


1546]       Home  Life  and  Last  Days        403 

requested  to  command  his  return.  With  his  wife, 
who  was  particularly  anxious  about  him,  and  with 
Melanchthon,  he  maintained  a  constant  correspond- 
ence. With  tender  sarcasm  he  tried  to  soothe  her 
fears  when  he  wrote  to  his  wife : 

"  Only  read,  dear  Kate,  St.  John,  and  the  Small 
Catechism,  of  which  you  once  said  to  me  that  everything 
in  the  book  was  said  of  you.  For  you  want  to  care  for 
your  God  precisely  as  though  He  were  not  Almighty, 
and  could  not  create  ten  Dr.  Martins  if  the  old  one  were 
to  be  drowned  in  the  Saale,  or  be  burned  in  the  oven,  or 
be  caught  in  Wolf's  bird-trap.  Dismiss  your  cares,  for 
I  have  One  Who  cares  for  me  better  than  you  or  angels 
can.  He  lies  in  a  manger,  and  hangs  on  the  breast  of 
a  virgin,  but  is  also  seated  at  the  right  hand  of  God  the 
Father  Almighty." 

A  few  days  afterwards : 

"  We  thank  you  most  sincerely  for  your  great  anxiety, 
which  would  not  let  you  sleep;  for  since  the  time  when 
you  began  to  care  for  us  the  fire  wanted  to  consume  us 
in  our  lodging,  just  by  my  door,  and  yesterday  a  stone 
almost  fell  on  my  head,  and  came  near  crushing  me,  as 
in  a  mouse-trap.  ...  I  am  really  anxious;  for  if 
you  do  not  cease  caring,  the  earth  will  swallow  us  up, 
and  all  the  elements  pursue  us!  Only  pray,  and  let  God 
do  all  the  caring;  for  it  is  written:  'Casting  all  your 
care  upon  Him,'  etc." 

On  February  i6th  he  wrote  to  Melanchthon,  an- 
nouncing his  speedy  return,  and  asking  him  to  send 

1  De  Wette,  5  :  787.  »/5.,  789- 


404  Martin  Luther  [i4s3- 

by  special  messenger,  who  would  meet  him  on  the 
way,  an  ointment  which  he  was  in  the  habit  of  using 
to  keep  open  a  sore  on  his  limb.  It  had  been  for- 
gotten, and  the  wound  was  healing,  from  which  he 
apprehended  danger.  On  the  same  day  he  preached 
for  the  last  time;  it  was  his  fourth  sermon  during 
the  arbitration.  He  also  received  the  Lord's  Sup- 
per, and  ordained  two  ministers.  On  the  i6th,  an 
agreement  was  reached  and  received  his  signature. 
The  next  day  some  additional  matters  were  settled, 
but  his  presence  was  not  required  below  stairs.  He 
remained  all  the  day  above  in  his  apartments,  which 
consisted  of  a  sitting-  and  a  sleeping-room.  In  the 
evening  he  was  much  better,  and  came  down  to 
supper.  Although  his  thoughts  and  conversation 
were  largely  upon  death  and  the  world  to  come,  he 
was  unusually  cheerful,  enjoyed  his  meal,  and  said 
that  it  was  worthy  of  those  that  in  his  childhood  he 
had  there  known.  Bidding  the  company  good-night, 
he  retired  with  his  two  younger  sons,  who  had  re- 
turned from  Mansfeld.  Dr.  Jonas  and  Aurifaber 
accompanied  him.  Intending  at  once  to  go  to  rest, 
he  withdrew  to  the  window  of  the  sitting-room  to 
pray,  when  he  was  seized  suddenly  with  an  alarming 
attack  of  oppression  on  the  breast,  which  soon 
yielded  to  vigorous  rubbing  and  the  application  of 
hot  cloths.  Then,  lying  upon  a  lounge  in  the  same 
room,  he  slept  until  ten  o'clock.  Thinking  that  he 
could  now  safely  take  his  bed,  he  walked  into  the 
sleeping-room,  and  while  doing  so  was  heard  to 
repeat  the  words:  "  Into  Thy  hands  I  commend  my 
spirit,"  etc.  As  he  bade  Jonas  and  Pastor  Coelius 


1546]       Home  Life  and  Last  Days       405 

of  Eisleben  good-night,  he  asked  them  to  pray 
against  the  machinations  of  the  Council  of  Trent. 
It  was  one  o'clock  when  he  was  again  aroused,  and 
another  attack  speedily  followed.  "  Dr.  Jonas,"  he 
cried  out,  "  here  in  Eisleben,  where  I  was  born  and 
baptised,  I  think  I  shall  remain."  As  he  re-entered 
the  sitting-room,  he  again  repeated  the  words: 
"  Into  Thy  hands,"  etc.,  and  after  pacing  the  floor 
for  a  short  time,  sank  upon  the  lounge.  The  pain 
increased ;  two  physicians  were  summoned.  Count 
Albrecht  and  the  Countess  were  soon  at  hand,  and 
were  unwearied  in  their  attention.  In  the  midst  of 
his  paroxysms  he  prayed : 

"  I  thank  Thee,  O  God,  the  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  that  Thou  hast  revealed  Thy  Son  to  me,  on 
Whom  I  have  believed,  Whom  I  have  loved,  Whom  I 
have  preached  and  confessed  and  worshipped,  Whom 
the  Pope  and  all  the  ungodly  abuse  and  slander.  O 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  I  commend  my  poor  soul  to  Thee. 
O  Heavenly  Father,  I  know  that,  although  I  shall  be 
taken  away  from  this  life,  I  shall  live  forever  with  Thee. 
4  God  so  loved  the  world  that  he  gave  His  only-begotten 
Son,  that  whosoever  believeth  on  Him  should  not  perish, 
but  have  everlasting  life.'  Father,  into  Thy  hands  I 
commend  my  spirit." 

Then  there  was  a  silence  that  no  one  ventured  for 
a  time  to  interrupt.  Were  those  lips  forever  sealed 

1  Vom  Christlichen  abschied  aus  diesen  todlichen  leben  des  Ehrwir- 
digen  Herrn  D.  Martini  LutAeri,  bericht,  durch  D.  Justum  Jonam, 
M.  Michaelem  Celium,  und  ander  die  dabey  gewesen,  Wittemberg, 
1546,  p.  15. 


406  Martin  Luther  [1483- 

until  the  morning  of  the  Resurrection  ?  Could  not 
just  one  word  more  of  testimony  to  his  faith  be 
heard  ?  One  message,  if  possible,  must  still  be  re- 
ceived from  the  receding  spirit  as  it  leaves  all  earthly 
cares  behind.  The  two  pastors,  Jonas  and  Coelius, 
shake  him,  and  call  with  a  loud  voice  into  his  ear: 
"Reverend  Father,  do  you  die  in  the  faith  of  your 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  in  the  doctrine  which  you 
preached  in  His  Name?"  The  answer  was  clear 
and  distinct:  "Yes."  With  this  he  turned  upon 
his  side  and  peacefully  went  to  sleep.  It  was  just 
fifteen  minutes  before  three  o'clock  when  he  breathed 
his  last.  For  this  hour  he  had  long  been  preparing. 

"  He  was  dying,"  said  Coelius,  "  for  more  than  a 
year;  /.  e.,  he  thought  of  death,  preached  about  death, 
conversed  about  death,  wrote  about  death.  The  day 
before  he  departed  I  read  to  him,  at  his  own  request, 
many  consoling  passages  from  his  Psalter,  which  he  had 
marked  and  written  in  it,  in  order  to  comfort  himself 
with  them."  ' 

Of  the  same  careful  preparation  Jonas  writes: 
In  his  Psalter  and  Prayer-Book,  which  he  always 
carried  with  him,  he  wrote  more  than  twenty  con- 
solatory passages,  as  much  as  to  say :  '  I  will,  with 
the  help  of  God,  lay  hold  of  one  of  these  passages 
in  my  last  hour.'  "  a 

1  Zivo  Trosliche  Predigt  iiber  der  Leich  D.  Doct.  Martini  Luther, 
zu  Eisleben  den  XIX.  und  XX.  Februarii  gethan,  durch  D.  Doct. 
Justum  yonam  et  M.  Michaelem  Celium,  Anno  1546,  Wittemberg, 
p.  50. 

*/<$.,  p.  II. 


1546]       Home  Life  and  Last  Days        407 

Before  daybreak  the  messenger  was  off  for  Witten- 
berg, carrying  with  him  a  full  report  to  the  Elector 
of  the  sad  scene  that  had  just  transpired,  prepared 
by  Dr.  Jonas  immediately  after  its  occurrence.  The 
letter  of  Jonas  was  at  once  transmitted  by  the  Elec- 
tor to  Wittenberg.  On  the  next  morning  at  nine 
o'clock,  when  the  students  assembled  to  hear  a 
lecture  on  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans,  Melanchthon 
announced  the  news  that  had  just  been  received, 
and  gave  them  a  full  account  of  the  particulars  as 
they  had  been  reported,  with  the  statement  that 
false  reports  were  likely  to  be  circulated,  the  Italian 
pamphlet  of  the  year  before  having  suggested  the 
probability  of  such  slander  on  the  part  of  his  enemies. 

Although  the  Counts  of  Mansfeld  urged  that  he 
be  buried  in  his  native  land,  the  Elector  decided 
that  Wittenberg  was  the  proper  place  for  his  grave. 

On  February  igth  services  were  held  in  St.  An- 
drew's Church,  Eisleben,  where  Dr.  Jonas  preached 
from  i  Thess.  iv.,  13-18,  and  Coelius  from  Is.  Ivii., 
I.  Attended  by  two  of  the  counts  and  a  guard  of 
honour  of  about  fifty  riders,  the  procession  from 
Eisleben  to  Wittenberg  was  marked  by  demonstra- 
tions of  grief  in  all  the  places  through  which  it 
passed,  where  bells  were  tolled  and  the  whole  popu- 
lation turned  out  to  pay  their  tribute  of  respect. 
The  first  night  the  corpse  rested  in  one  of  the 
churches  of  Halle,  guarded  by  faithful  watchers. 
On  February  22d,  at  nine  o'clock  in  the  morning, 
they  reached  Wittenberg.  In  the  Castle  Church, 
upon  whose  doors  the  XCV.  Theses  had  been  nailed, 
the  sermon  was  preached  by  Bugenhagen,  from  the 


408  Martin  Luther  [i483- 

same  text  that  had  been  used  by  Jonas  at  Eisleben, 
and  then  Melanchthon,  standing  by  the  side  of  the 
casket,  delivered  in  Latin  a  most  eloquent  tribute 
to  his  friend,  as  tender  and  loyal  as  it  was  discrimi- 
nating. He  was  a  man,  said  the  speaker,  who 
wielded  the  sword  with  one  hand  while  he  built  the 
walls  of  Jerusalem  with  the  other.  If  his  words 
were  sometimes  open  to  criticism  because  of  their 
severity,  the  remark  of  Erasmus  might  be  recalled, 
that  the  extremity  of  the  diseases  in  this  last  age 
of  the  world  required  a  physician  who  resorted  to 
heroic  remedies.  While  he  could  not  maintain  that 
he  was  right  in  all  these  severities,  nevertheless,  as 
the  one  who  knew  him  best,  he  could  testify  to  the 
absence  of  personal  rancour,  and  to  the  fact  that, 
in  his  private  life,  he  was  in  no  way  contentious,  but 
was  most  affable  and  considerate  of  the  interests  of 
those  around  him.  Without  any  ambition  except 
to  be  faithful  to  his  divine  calling,  a  stranger  to  the 
arts  of  diplomacy,  pure  in  life  and  candid  in  speech, 
sustained  and  impelled  in  his  work  by  the  Spirit  of 
God,  with  whom  he  communed  in  the  daily  study 
of  the  Word,  and  in  most  ardent  prayers,  often 
wrung  from  his  heart,  as  his  friends  knew,  with 
tears,  God  has  raised  up  in  him  a  leader  and  teacher, 
for  whose  life  devout  minds  throughout  all  eternity 
would  give  God  all  the  praise  and  glory.1  By  the 
pulpit,  where  he  had  so  often  preached,  he  was 
buried. 

The  church  upon  the  wooden  doors  of  which  in 
1517  the  XCV.  Theses  had  been  nailed,  became  the 

1  C.  R.,  II  :  726  sqq. 


1546]       Home  Life  and  Last  Days        409 

'  Westminster  Abbey"  of  the  Lutheran  Church, 
These  doors  were  burned  in  1760,  when  Wittenberg 
was  bombarded,  and  in  their  place  bronze  doors 
were  erected  in  1812,  upon  which  the  Theses  were 
cast.  Within  them  lie  the  Electors  Frederick  the 
Wise  and  John  the  Constant.  There  also,  fourteen 
years  after  Luther's  death,  Melanchthon  was  laid. 
Around  them  are  no  less  than  ninety  university 
professors  and  teachers.  The  University  lived  upon 
the  memories  of  its  brilliant  career  in  the  sixteenth 
century,  in  spite  of  the  notoriously  unsuitable  loca- 
tion of  Wittenberg  for  such  an  institution,  until,  in 
1817,  it  was  merged  with  Halle.  A  famous  painting 
in  the  Capelle  sum  heiligen  Leichnam,  near  the  Paro- 
chial Church,  represents  the  Emperor  Charles  V. 
standing  by  the  grave  of  Luther,  when,  in  March, 
1547,  Wittenberg  fell  by  the  fortunes  of  war  into  his 
hands.  The  Duke  of  Alva  is  supposed  to  be  sug- 
gesting that  Luther's  remains  be  disinterred  and 
dishonoured,  but  the  Emperor  answers:  "  I  war  not 
with  the  dead,  but  with  the  living. "  In  the  absence 
of  cotemporary  records  of  such  an  event,  we  must 
regard  it  as  embodying  only  a  conception  of  the 
artist,  intended,  probably,  to  show  the  reverence 
that  the  memory  of  Luther  inspired  in  the  mind  of 
the  highest  earthly  potentate,  but  also  susceptible 
of  the  interpretation  of  the  triumph  of  the  living 
Empero  rover  the  dead  Luther.  The  hour  of  venge- 
ance for  Charles  seemed  to  have  come,  and  the 
movement  begun  at  that  spot  thirty  years  before  to 
be  weakening.  But  there  is  a  power  that  is  mightier 
than  that  of  vast  armies.  It  is  that  power  on  which 


410  Martin  Luther  [1483- 

Luther  placed  his  reliance  in  all  the  conflicts  through 
which  he  passed :  the  simple  power  of  the  living 
Word.  The  Word  which  he  brought  to  light  and 
embodied  in  his  translation  of  the  Bible,  his  cate- 
chisms, his  hymns,  with  their  matchless  melodies, 
his  sermons,  his  revision  of  the  Church  Service,  his 
Theses,  his  controversial  writings,  his  positive  pre- 
sentations of  doctrine,  such  as  the  Introduction  to 
the  Epistle  to  the  Romans  and  his  Freedom  of  a  Christ- 
ian Man,  still  live,  and  will  continue  to  live  from 
generation  to  generation.  As  time  advances  Charles 
is  remembered  more  and  more  only  as  the  Emperor 
whose  reign  was  in  the  days  of  Luther.  That 
Luther's  influence  does  not  diminish  with  time  is 
shown  by  the  incessant  attacks  of  enemies.  One  of 
the  most  lauded  and  admired,  he  is  also  one  of  the 
most  disparaged  of  the  great  characters  of  history ; 
for  his  words  not  only  still  touch,  but  continue  to 
powerfully  influence,  living  issues.  One  of  the 
greatest  needs  of  modern  times  is  the  careful,  scien- 
tific, discriminating  study  of  Luther's  writings  and 
acts,  according  to  his  own  presentations,  and  in 
their  historical  setting.  The  canons  of  historical 
criticism,  which  honesty  in  the  treatment  of  other 
lives  demands,  must  be  applied  here  also. 

"  The  world,"  says  the  late  Dr.  Krauth,  "  knows  his 
faults.  He  could  not  hide  what  he  was.  His  trans- 
parent candour  gave  his  enemies  the  material  of  their  mis- 
representation;  but  they  cannot  blame  his  infirmities 
without  bearing  witness  to  the  nobleness  which  made 
him  careless  of  appearances  in  a  world  of  defamers. 
For  himself,  he  had  as  little  of  the  virtue  of  caution  as 


1546] 


Home  Life  and  Last  Days       411 


he  had,  towards  others,  of  the  vice  of  dissimulation. 
Living  under  thousands  of  jealous  and  hating  eyes,  in 
the  broadest  light  of  day,  the  testimony  of  enemies  but 
fixes  the  result:  that  his  faults  were  those  of  a  nature  of 
the  most  consummate  grandeur  and  fulness,  faults  more 
precious  than  the  virtues  of  the  common  great.  Four 
potentates  ruled  the  mind  of  Europe  in  the  Reformation, 
the  Emperor,  Erasmus,  the  Pope,  and  Luther.  The 
Pope  wanes,  Erasmus  is  little,  the  Emperor  is  nothing, 
but  Luther  abides  as  a  power  for  all  time.  His  image 
casts  itself  upon  the  current  of  ages,  as  the  mountain 
mirrors  itself  in  the  river  that  winds  at  its  foot — the 
mighty  fixing  itself  immutably  upon  the  changing." 

1  Conservative  Reformation,  p.  87. 


MEDAL  OF  LUTHER. 

FROM  ORETSER'8  "  DE  8ANCTA  CRUCI." 


APPENDIX    I 

BULL  OF  LEO  X.   AGAINST  THE   ERRORS  OF 
MARTIN   LUTHER  AND   HIS   FOLLOWERS1 

Leo,  Bishop,  Servant  of  the  Servants  of  God. 

For  the  perpetual  memory  of  the  subject. 

[The  Pope  invokes  God  and  the  saints  to  defend  the 
Church  against  the  new  heretics.] 

ARISE,  O  Lord,  and  judge  thy  cause,  be  mindful  of 
thy  reproaches,  with  which  the  foolish  reproach 
thee  daily;  incline  thine  ear  to  our  prayers,  since  foxes 
have  arisen  seeking  to  spoil  the  vineyard,  whose  wine- 
press thou  hast  trodden  alone,  and  whose  care,  govern- 
ment and  administration  when  thou  wast  about  to  ascend 


1  Latin  original  in  Schaff's  Church  History,  233  sqq. ;  Gerdesius, 
Historia  Reformations,  Monumenta,  i.,  129  sqq.;  Op.  var.  arg., 
iv.,  263  sqq.  German  translation  of  Ulrich  von  Hutten,  Walch, 
xv.,  i6qi  sqq.  The  capitalisation  of  this  translation  is  identical 
with  that  of  the  original.  The  analysis  is  that  of  the  editor.  The 
translation  is  by  the  author. 

413 


414  Martin  Luther 

to  the  Father,  thou  didst  entrust  to  Peter,  as  its  head 
and  thy  vicar,  and  to  his  successors,  after  the  image  of 
the  triumphant  Church:  the  boar  out  of  the  wood  is 
seeking  to  waste  it,  and  a  peculiar  wild  beast  doth  de- 
vour it. 

Arise,  O  Peter,  and,  by  virtue  of  the  pastoral  office 
entrusted  thee  (as  before  said)  and  divinely  required  of 
thee,  attend  to  the  cause  of  the  holy  Roman  Church,  the 
Mother  of  all  churches,  and  mistress  of  the  faith,  which 
thou,  at  God's  command,  didst  consecrate  with  thy 
blood,  against  which,  as  thou  didst  deign  to  forewarn, 
false  teachers  are  rising,  introducing  ruinous  sects,  and 
inducing  upon  themselves  swift  destruction,  whose 
tongue  is  fire,  a  restless  evil,  full  of  deadly  poison,  who 
having  bitter  zeal  and  contentions  in  their  hearts,  do 
boast  and  lie  against  the  truth. 

Arise,  thou  too,  O  Paul,  we  ask,  who  hast  illumined 
and  illustrated  it  [the  Church]  with  thy  doctrine  and 
likewise  with  thy  martyrdom.  For  a  new  Porphyry  is 
arising;  since,  just  as  he  of  old  attacked  unjustly  the 
holy  Apostles,  so  against  thy  doctrine  this  one  fears  not 
to  attack  and  wound,  and,  where  he  distrusts  his  cause, 
to  reproach  the  holy  Pontiffs,  our  predecessors,  not  by 
entreaties,  but  by  vituperations,  after  the  manner  of 
heretics  (as  Jerome  saith),  whose  last  resort  it  is,  when 
they  see  that  their  causes  are  about  to  be  condemned, 
to  begin  to  scatter  with  their  tongues  the  venom  of  the 
serpent;  and  when  they  see  that  they  have  been  con- 
quered, to  break  forth  in  abuse.  For  although  thou  hast 
said  that  heresies  are  for  the  purpose  of  testing  the  faith- 
ful, nevertheless,  by  thy  aid  and  intercession,  they  should 
be  suppressed  in  the  very  beginning,  before  they  grow 
or  the  little  foxes  gather  strength. 

Finally,  let  the  entire  congregation  of  saints,  and  the 


Appendix  I  415 

rest  of  the  Church  universal  arise,  whose  true  interpreta- 
tion of  holy  scriptures  being  set  aside,  some,  whose 
minds  the  father  of  lies  hath  blinded,  according  to  the 
ancient  custom  of  heretics,  wise  in  their  own  eyes,  inter- 
pret the  same  scriptures  otherwise  than  the  holy  Spirit 
requireth,  only  according  to  their  own  sense,  for  ambi- 
tion, and,  as  the  Apostle  witnesseth,  for  popularity,  and, 
in  so  doing,  even  wrest  and  corrupt  the  scriptures,  so 
that,  as  Jerome  saith,  it  is  no  longer  the  gospel  of 
Christ,  but  of  man,  or  what  is  worse,  of  the  devil,  that 
they  preach.  Let  the  aforesaid  holy  Church  of  God,  I 
say,  arise,  and,  with  the  aforesaid  most  blessed  Apostles, 
intercede  with  God  almighty,  that,  their  sheep  being 
freed  from  all  errors,  and  all  heresies  being  excluded 
from  the  borders  of  the  faithful,  he  may  deign  to  pre- 
serve the  peace  and  unity  of  his  holy  Church  universal. 

[The  Pope's  distress  at  the  revamping  of  condemned 
Greek  and  Bohemian  heresies.] 

For  some  time  already,  a  matter,  whereof  we  can 
scarcely  make  mention,  because  of  our  distress  and  sor- 
row, hath  come  to  our  hearing  by  the  report  of  trust- 
worthy persons,  as  well  as  by  common  rumour,  yea,  alas! 
we  have  even  seen  and  read  with  our  own  eyes  many  and 
various  errors,  viz.,  some  condemned  by  the  Councils 
and  Constitutions  of  our  Predecessors,  containing  ex- 
pressly the  heresy  of  the  Greeks  and  Bohemians;  but 
others,  on  their  part,  either  heretical  or  false  or  scandal- 
ous, or  offensive  to  godly  ears,  or  seductive  to  simple 
minds,  recently  agitated  and  diffused  among  some  trifling 
persons  in  the  renowned  German  nation,  by  false  wor- 
shippers of  faith,  who,  in  their  proud  curiosity,  aiming 
for  the  glory  of  the  world,  want,  in  opposition  to  the 
doctrine  of  the  Apostle,  to  be  wiser  than  they  ought  to 


4i  6  Martin  Luther 

be;  whose  garrulity  (as  Jerome  saith)  would  have  no 
credit,  unless  they  seemed  to  support  their  perverse 
doctrine  also  by  divine  testimonies,  falsely  interpreted, 
and  from  whose  eyes  the  fear  of  God  hath  vanished. 

[The  distress  the  greater  because  the  Germans  were 
formerly  such  defenders  of  the  Church.] 

For  this  we  grieve  the  more,  because  we  and  our 
Predecessors  have  always  entertained  for  this  nation  the 
highest  affection.  Inasmuch  as,  since  the  transfer  of 
the  imperial  power  from  the  Greeks  to  the  aforesaid 
Germans  by  the  Roman  Church,  our  aforesaid  Predeces- 
sors and  we  have  always  found  among  them  advocates 
and  defenders  of  the  same  Church,  it  is  manifest  that 
these  Germans,  as  true  "  germans  "  [brothers]  of  the 
Catholic  truth,  have  always  been  the  most  zealous  assail- 
ants of  heresies:  as  witnesses  thereof,  we  appeal  to  the 
praiseworthy  laws  of  the  German  Emperors  for  the  liberty 
of  the  Church,  and  for  expelling  and  exterminating 
heretics  from  all  Germany,  under  the  most  severe  penal- 
ties, even  the  loss  of  lands  and  dominions,  published  in 
former  times  and  confirmed  by  our  Predecessors,  against 
those  receiving  or  not  expelling  them,  which  laws  if  en- 
forced to-day,  both  we  and  they  would  undoubtedly  be 
free  from  this  trouble.  As  witness  thereof,  we  appeal  to 
the  condemnation  and  punishment  of  the  Hussites  and 
Wiclifites,  and  of  Jerome  of  Prague  in  the  Council  of 
Constance.  As  witness  thereof,  we  appeal  to  the  fre- 
quent shedding  of  the  blood  of  the  Germans  in  war 
against  the  Bohemians.  As  witness  thereof,  we  appeal, 
finally,  to  the  no  less  learned  than  true  and  holy  refuta- 
tion, rejection  and  condemnation  of  the  aforenamed 
errors,  or  many  of  them,  by  the  Universities  of  Cologne 
and  Louvain,  most  godly  and  devout  tillers  of  the  Lord's 


Appendix  I  417 

field.  Many  more  citations  could  be  made,  which  we 
have  decided  should  be  omitted,  lest  we  might  seem  to 
be  composing  history. 

[Forty-one  selected  errors  in  the  writings  of  Martin 
Luther.] 

In  the  exercise,  therefore,  of  the  pastoral  office,  en- 
trusted us  by  divine  grace,  we  can  without  disgrace  to 
the  Christian  religion,  and  injury  to  the  orthodox  faith, 
neither  tolerate  nor  pass  by  longer  the  deadly  poison  of 
the  aforenamed  errors.  Of  these  errors,  we  have  thought 
that  some  should  be  here  cited.  Their  substance  is  as 
follows:  ' 

I.  It  is  an  heretical  but  a  usual  statement,  that  the 
Sacraments  of  the  new  testament  give  justifying  grace 
to  those  who  interpose  no  obstacle. 

II.  To  deny  that  sin  remains  in  a  child  after  baptism, 
is  to  treat  both  Paul  and  Christ  with  contempt. 

III.  The  tinder  of  sin,  even  though  no  actual  sin  be 
present,  excludes  a  soul  leaving  the  body  from  entrance 
into  heaven. 

IV.  The  imperfect  love  of  a  dying  person  necessarily 
carries  with  it  great  fear,  which  is  alone  sufficient  to  pro- 
duce the  punishment  of  purgatory,  and  prevents  entrance 
into  the  kingdom. 

V.  There  is  no  foundation  in  holy  scripture  or  in  the 
ancient  Christian  teachers  for  the  doctrine  that  there  are 
three  parts  of  penitence,  viz.,  contrition,  confession,  and 
satisfaction. 

VI.  One  is  made  a  hypocrite,  aye,  a  great  sinner,  by 


['  Compare  Luther's  answer  to  these  forty-one  alleged  errors  in  his 
Assertio  omnium  Articulorum,  Weimar,  vii.,  91  sqq.  ;  Op.  var.  arg., 
v.,  154  sqq.;  in  German,  Erlangen,  24  :  52  sqq.;  Walch,  xv.,  175,  sqq.\ 


4i 8  Martin  Luther 

contrition  arising  from  self-examination,  and  reflection 
upon  and  detestation  of  sins,  whereby,  in  the  bitterness 
of  his  soul,  one  reviews  his  years,  by  considering  the 
gravity  of  his  sins,  their  multitude  and  heinousness,  the 
loss  of  eternal  blessedness,  and  the  penalty  of  eternal 
condemnation. 

VII.  Most  true  is  the  proverb,  and  preferable  to  the 
doctrine  of  all   hitherto  taught  concerning  contrition, 
that  not  to  do  [penance]  is  the  highest  penitence,  and  a 
new  life  the  best  penitence. 

VIII.  Presume  in  no  way  to  confess  venial,  or  even 
mortal  sins,  because  it  is  impossible  to  know  all  mortal 
sins;  hence  in  the  primitive  Church  only  manifest  mortal 
sins  were  confessed. 

IX.  In  wishing  to  confess  all  things  absolutely,  we 
only  show  our  unwillingness  to  leave  anything  for  the 
mercy  of  God  to  forgive. 

X.  No  sins  are  forgiven,  unless  when  the  priest  for- 
gives, the  person  believes  that  they  are  forgiven  him; 
aye,  sin  would  remain  unless  he  would  believe  that  it  is 
forgiven;  for  the  remission  of  sins  and  the  bestowal  of 
grace  are  insufficient,  but  one  must  believe  that  sin  is 
forgiven. 

XI.  Trust  in  no  way  that  you  are  absolved  because  of 
your  contrition,   but   because  of   the  word    of   Christ: 
"Whatsoever  ye  shall  loose,"  etc.     So,  I  say,  trust,  if 
you  have  obtained  absolution  of  a  priest,   and  believe 
firmly  that  you  have  been  absolved;  and  without  regard 
to  contrition,  you  will  be  truly  absolved. 

XII.  If  it  were  possible  for  a  person  not  contrite  to 
confess,  or  for  a  priest  to  absolve  not  seriously,  but  in 
jest,   and  if  one  should,  nevertheless,   believe  that  he 
were  absolved,  he  would  be  absolved. 

XIII.  In  the  sacrament  of  penance,  or  remission  of 


Appendix  I  419 

guilt,  the  Pope  or  Bishop  does  no  more  than  the  lowest 
priest;  aye,  when  there  is  no  priest,  any  Christian,  even 
a  woman  or  boy,  would  do  equally  well. 

XIV.  No  one  should  answer  the  priest  that  he   is 
contrite,  neither  should  the  priest  ask  it  of  any  one. 

XV.  Great  is  the  error  of  those  who  come  to  the  sacra- 
ment of  the  Eucharist,  relying  upon  the  fact  that  they 
have   confessed;    that   they  are  not   conscious   of  any 
mortal  sins;  that  they  have  said  their  prayers  and  made 
their  preparations.     All  these  eat  and  drink  judgment  to 
themselves:  but  if  they  believe  and  trust  that  they  will 
there  receive  grace,  this  faith  alone  makes  them  pure 
and  worthy. 

XVI.  It  would  be  well  for  the  Church,  in  a  general 
council,  to  resolve  that  the  laity  should  commune  under 
both  forms;  and  the  Bohemians  communing  under  both 
forms,  are  not  heretic,  but  schismatics. 

XVII.  The  treasures  of  the  Church,  from  which  the 
Pope  gives  indulgences,  are  not  the  merits  of  Christ  and 
the  saints. 

XVIII.  Indulgences  are  pious  frauds  upon  believers, 
and  hindrances  to  good  works,  and  belong  to  the  number 
of  those  things  that  are  lawful,  and  not  to  the  number  of 
those  that  are  expedient. 

XIX.  Indulgences  do  not  avail,  where  truly  received, 
to  remit  the  punishment  which  divine  justice  demands 
for  actual  sins. 

XX.  They  are  deceived  who  believe  that  indulgences 
bring  salvation,  and  a  spiritual  benefit. 

XXI.  Indulgences    are    necessary   only    for  public 
crimes,  and  are  granted  properly  only  to  the  hardened 
and  impatient. 

XXII.  For  six  classes  of  men  indulgences  are  not 
necessary  or  useful:  viz.,  the  dead,  or  dying,  the  sick, 


420  Martin  Luther 

those  hindered  for  sufficient  reason,  those  who  have  not 
committed  crimes,  those  who  have  committed  crimes, 
but  such  as  are  not  public,  and  those  who  have  re- 
formed. 

XXIII.  Excommunications  are  only  outward  punish- 
ments,   and    do    not    deprive   a  man   of    the   common 
spiritual  prayers  of  the  Church. 

XXIV.  Christians  should  be  taught  to  love   rather 
than  fear  excommunication. 

XXV.  The  Roman  Pontiff,  the  successor  of  Peter,  is 
not  the  vicar  of  Christ,  appointed  by  Christ  Himself  in 
St.  Peter,  over  all  the  churches  of  the  world. 

XXVI.  The  word  of  Christ  to  Peter:   "  Whatsoever 
thou  shalt  loose  upon  earth,"  etc.,  extends  only  to  those 
things  which  Peter  himself  has  bound. 

XXVII.  It   is   certain   that  it  is   within   the   power 
neither  of  the  Church  nor  of  the  Pope  to  frame  articles 
of  faith  or  commands  concerning  morals  or  good  works. 

XXVIII.  Even  though  the  Pope,  with  the  great  part 
of  the  Church,   should  think  so  and  so,   and  in  thus 
doing  should  not  err,  it  is  still  not  a  sin  or  heresy,  to 
think  the  contrary,  especially  in  a  matter  unnecessary  for 
salvation,  until  the  one  were  rejected  and  the  other  ap- 
proved by  a  General  Council. 

XXIX.  We   have  the  liberty  [Lit.:  "The  way  has 
been  opened  to  us  "]  to  state  the  authority  of  Councils, 
and  freely  contradict  their  doings  and  judge  their  de- 
crees,   and   confidently   confess    whatever    seems    true, 
whether   it   have    been    approved    or    rejected   by   any 
council. 

XXX.  Some  articles  of  John  Hus  condemned  in  the 
council    of   Constance   are    most   Christian,    true,    and 
evangelical,  and  cannot  be  condemned  by  the  universal 
Church. 


Appendix  I  421 

XXXI.  In  every  good  work,  the  righteous  man  sins. 

XXXII.  A  good  work  done   in   the  best  way  is  a 
venial  sin. 

XXXIII.  To  burn  heretics  is  against  the  will  of  the 
Spirit. 

XXXIV.  To  war  against  the  Turk  is  to  resist  God 
visiting  our  iniquities  upon  us  through  them. 

XXXV.  No  one  is  sure  that  he  is  not  always  mortally 
sinning  because  of  the  most  secret  vice  of  pride. 

XXXVI.  Free  Will  after  sin  is  a  thing  with  the  title 
alone,  and  in  doing  what  belongs  to  it,  sins  mortally. 

XXXVII.  Purgatory   cannot    be    proved    from    the 
canonical  scriptures. 

XXXVIII.  Souls  in  purgatory  are  not  secure  with  re- 
spect to  their  salvation,  at  least  not  all;  neither  can  it 
be  proved  either  by  reason  or  Scripture,  that  they  are 
beyond  meriting  or  increasing  love. 

XXXIX.  Souls  in  purgatory  sin  without  intermission, 
as  long  as  they  seek  rest  and  dread  punishments. 

XL.  Souls  delivered  from  purgatory  by  the  interces- 
sions of  the  living  have  less  happiness,  than  if  they  had 
made  satisfaction  of  themselves. 

XLI.  Ecclesiastical  prelates  and  secular  princes  would 
do  no  wrong  if  they  were  to  entirely  suppress  all  the 
mendicant  orders. 

[The  Pope  denounces  the  sentences  quoted  as  con- 
trary to  Catholic  doctrine.] 

No  one  of  sound  mind  is  ignorant  how  poisonous, 
how  pernicious,  how  scandalous,  how  seductive  to  godly 
and  simple  minds,  and,  finally,  how  contrary  to  all  love 
and  reverence  for  the  holy  Roman  Church,  the  mother 
of  all  believers,  and  the  mistress  of  the  faith,  and  the 
nerve  of  ecclesiastical  discipline,  obedience,  which  is 


422  Martin  Luther 

the  fountain  and  source  of  all  virtues,  without  which 
every  one  is  proved  to  be  an  infidel,  these  errors  are. 
Desiring,  therefore,  in  matters  of  such  importance  as  the 
aforesaid,  to  proceed  earnestly  (as  the  case  demands), 
and  to  prevent  the  spread  of  this  pestilence  and  cancer- 
ous disease,  like  a  noxious  thorn  in  the  Lord's  field,  and 
having  subjected  the  aforesaid  errors,  one  and  all,  to 
diligent  investigation  and  discussion,  rigid  examination 
and  mature  deliberation,  and  having  considered  all 
things  in  due  form  and  order,  and  frequently  reviewed 
them  with  our  venerable  brethren,  the  Cardinals  of  the 
holy  Roman  Church  and  the  Priors  of  the  regular  orders, 
or  general  ministers,  and  very  many  other  Masters  of 
Sacred  Theology,  besides  Professors  or  Masters  of  both 
Laws,  and  those  too  the  most  accomplished, — we  have 
found  the  errors  (as  before  said)  to  be  either  articles  that 
are  not  catholic,  or  such  as  are  not  to  be  regarded  as 
dogmas,  but  to  be  contrary  to  the  doctrine  or  tradition 
of  the  Catholic  Church,  and  the  true  interpretation  of 
the  divine  scriptures  received  therefrom,  to  whose  au- 
thority, in  the  opinion  of  Augustine,  such  respect  should 
be  shown  that  he  would  not  believe  the  Gospel,  unless 
the  authority  of  the  Catholic  Church  would  intervene. 
For  according  to  these  errors,  or  one  or  several  of  them, 
it  manifestly  follows  that  the  same  Church  that  is  ruled 
by  the  holy  Spirit  errs  and  always  has  erred.  This  is 
undoubtedly  contrary  to  what  Christ  said  to  His  disciples 
at  His  ascension  (as  it  is  read  in  the  Gospel  of  St.  Mat- 
thew): "  I  am  with  you  alway,  even  unto  the  end  of  the 
world  " ;  as  well  as  to  the  decisions  of  the  holy  Fathers, 
and  to  the  express  enactments  or  canons  of  the  Council 
and  supreme  Pontiffs,  disobedience  to  which,  according 
to  the  testimony  of  Cyprian,  has  been  the  tinder  and 
cause  of  all  heresies  and  schisms. 


Appendix  I  423 

[The  Pope  condemns  the  teaching  of  the  sentences 
and  prohibits  it  and  its  defence.] 

By  the  advice  and  with  the  approval,  therefore,  of  our 
aforenamed  venerable  brethren,  and  with  the  already 
mentioned  mature  deliberation  of  each  and  all  the  above, 
upon  the  authority  of  God  almighty,  and  of  the  blessed 
Apostles,  Peter  and  Paul,  and  our  own,  each  and  all  the 
aforesaid  articles,  or  errors  (according  to  what  has  been 
already  stated),  we  condemn,  repudiate,  and  altogether 
reject  as  heretical  or  scandalous  or  false  or  offensive  to 
pious  ears,  or  seductive  to  simple  minds  and  opposed  to 
the  Catholic  truth,  and,  in  accordance  with  the  purpose 
of  these  letters,  decree  and  declare  that  they  should  be 
treated  as  condemned,  repudiated,  and  rejected  by  all 
the  faithful  in  Christ  of  both  sexes.  We  also  prohibit, 
in  virtue  of  the  holy  obedience,  and  under  penalty  of 
the  proclamation  of  the  sentence  of  the  greater  excom- 
munication, depriving  both  Ecclesiastics  and  Regulars 
[/.  <?.,  members  of  orders]  of  all  the  ecclesiastical 
dignities  or  investitures  of  all  Episcopal  and  also  Pa- 
triarchal, Metropolitan,  and  other  Cathedral  Churches, 
as  well  as  of  Monasteries,  Priories,  and  Convents, 
and  the  like,  whether  of  Secular  or  Regular  Orders, 
and  disqualifying  them  for  these  and  other  things  to 
be  obtained  in  the  future.  Convents,  Chapters,  or 
houses,  or  pious  places  of  seculars  or  regulars,  also  of 
the  Mendicants,  and  likewise  the  Universities  we  pro- 
hibit under  penalty  of  the  deprival  of  whatever  privileges 
have  been  granted  by  the  Apostolic  See  or  its  Legates, 
or  have  been  held  and  obtained  in  any  other  way, 
and  whatever  be  the  tenure  by  which  they  stand:  like- 
wise the  deprival  of  the  name  and  power  of  conduct- 
ing a  university,  and  of  lecturing  upon  and  interpreting 
any  sciences  and  branches,  and  of  disqualification  for 


424  Martin  Luther 

these  and  other  things  to  be  obtained  in  the  future:  also 
by  the  penalty  of  the  loss  of  the  office  of  Preaching  and 
of  general  study  and  of  all  the  privileges  thereof.  The 
seculars  likewise  we  prohibit  under  penalty  of  the  same 
excommunication  and  the  loss  of  every  feudal  tenure, 
whether  acquired  from  the  Roman  Church,  or  in  any 
other  way  whatever,  and  also  of  disqualification  of  these 
and  other  things  to  be  obtained  hereafter.  Each  and  all 
the  above-named  we  prohibit  under  penalty  of  the  pro- 
hibition of  Ecclesiastical  burial,  and  of  disqualification 
for  each  and  all  transactions  at  law,  and  the  penalties  of 
infamy,  and  challenging  and  treason,  and  the  punish- 
ments laid  down  in  the  law  against  heretics  and  their 
favourers,  to  be  incurred  by  the  fact  and  without  further 
explanation  by  each  and  all  the  above-mentioned,  if  (as 
we  hope  not)  they  withstand  us.  From  these  penalties 
they  cannot  be  absolved  in  virtue  of  any  power  and  ex- 
ceptions entrusted  to  any  to  whom  confession  shall  be 
made,  or  under  any  form  of  words  whatever,  unless  by 
the  Roman  Pontiff,  or  one  having  special  authority 
therefor  from  him — those  alone  excepted  who  are  at  the 
point  of  death.  Each  and  all  believers  in  Christ,  of 
both  sexes,  Lay  and  Clerical,  Seculars  and  members  of 
whatever  Regular  Order,  and  every  other  person,  of 
whatever  estate,  grade,  or  condition  he  may  be,  and  in 
whatever  worldly  or  ecclesiastical  dignity  he  may  shine, 
even  in  the  Holy  Roman  Church,  the  Cardinals,  Patri- 
archs, Primates,  Archbishops,  Bishops,  and  the  prelates, 
clergy,  and  other  ecclesiastical  persons  of  the  Patriarchal, 
Metropolitan,  and  other  cathedral,  Collegiate,  and  infe- 
rior churches,  Clerks  and  other  Ecclesiastical  persons,  the 
Seculars  and  regulars  of  whatever  Mendicant  Orders, 
the  Abbots,  Priors,  or  Ministers,  whether  general  or  par- 
ticular, the  Brethren  or  Religious,  exempt  or  non- 


Appendix  I  425 

exempt:  the  Secular  members  of  Universities,  and 
regulars  of  whatever  Order  of  Mendicants,  as  well  as 
Kings,  the  Electors  of  the  Emperor,  Princes,  Dukes, 
Marquises,  Counts,  Barons,  Captains,  Conductors, 
Chamberlains,  and  all  Officials,  Judges,  Ecclesiastical 
and  Secular  Notaries,  Communities, Universities,  Powers, 
Cities,  Camps,  Lands,  and  places,  or  their  citizens,  in- 
habitants, and  tenants,  or  any  other  persons,  Ecclesiasti- 
cal or  Regular  (as  before  said),  everywhere  throughout 
the  world,  especially  living  in  Germany,  or  who  for  a  time 
will  live  there, — we  warn  not  to  presume  to  assert, 
affirm,  defend,  or  preach  the  above-named  errors  or  any 
one  of  them,  and  such  perverse  doctrine,  not  in  any 
way,  publicly  or  secretly,  or  from  any  purpose  or  pre- 
text, silently  or  expressly  to  favour  them. 

[Any  use  of  Luther's  writings  prohibited,  and  they  are 
to  be  publicly  burned.] 

Since  the  errors  aforenamed  and  many  others  are  con- 
tained in  the  books  or  writings  of  Martin  Luther,  the 
books  mentioned  and  all  the  writings  or  sermons  of  said 
Martin,  whether  found  in  Latin  or  any  other  idiom, 
in  which  the  said  errors  or  any  thereof  are  contained,  we 
absolutely  condemn,  repudiate  and  entirely  reject,  and 
wish  them  to  be  regarded  as  condemned,  repudiated,  and 
rejected  (as  before  said),  enjoining  in  virtue  of  the  holy 
obedience  [that  is  due]  and  under  liability,  by  the  very 
act,  to  the  penalties  aforenamed,  each  and  every  faithful 
one  in  Christ,  of  both  sexes  above  named,  not  to  presume, 
in  any  way,  to  read,  quote,  preach,  commend,  print, 
publish,  or  defend  such  writings,  books,  sermons,  or 
schedules,  whether  by  himself  or  through  others,  directly 
or  indirectly,  silently  or  expressly,  publicly  or  secretly, 
or  to  possess  them  either  in  their  own  houses  or  in  other 


426  Martin  Luther 

public  or  private  places:  but  that  immediately  upon  the 
publication  of  these  letters,  wherever  they  may  be,  under 
penalty  of  each  and  all  the  above-named  punishments, 
the  officials  and  others  above  mentioned  make  a  diligent 
search  for  said  writings,  and  publicly  and  solemnly  burn 
them,  in  the  presence  of  the  clergy  and  the  people. 

[Stubbornness  of  Luther  in  repelling  the  kind  attempts 
of  the  Pope  to  convince  him  of  his  error.] 

As  to  Martin  himself  (good  God!)  what  office  of 
paternal  affection  have  we  neglected  or  left  undone  or 
omitted  in  order  to  recall  him  from  such  errors  ?  For  since 
wishing  to  proceed  with  great  mildness,  we  cited  him,  and 
invited  and  exhorted  him,  both  through  various  interviews 
with  our  legate,  and  by  letter,  to  desist  from  the  afore- 
named errors,  or,  a  safe-conduct  and  the  necessary 
travelling  expenses  being  offered  him,  to  come  without 
fear  or  apprehension,  and,  although  it  would  have  been 
consistent  with  perfect  love  to  have  cast  him  out,  we 
urged  him  to  address  us,  according  to  the  example  of 
our  Saviour  and  of  the  Apostle  Paul,  not  secretly,  but 
openly,  and  face  to  face.  Had  he  done  this,  he  would 
undoubtedly  (as  we  think)  have  returned  to  his  senses, 
and  acknowledged  his  errors,  nor  would  he  have  found 
in  the  court  of  Rome  as  many  errors  as  he  charges  us 
with,  by  ascribing  more  weight  than  is  their  due  to  the 
vain  rumours  of  malevolent  persons:  and  I  would  have 
taught  him  more  clearly  than  light,  that  the  holy  Roman 
Pontiffs,  whom  he  maliciously  attacks  beyond  all  bounds, 
have  never  erred  in  their  canons  or  constitutions,  which 
he  seeks  to  attack:  because,  according  to  the  prophet, 
neither  balm  nor  a  physician  is  wanting  in  Gilead.  BuV 
he  has  persistently  disobeyed,  and  despising  the  above 
citation,  and  each  and  all  things  above  said,  has  borne 


Appendix  I  427 

the  censures  insolently  and  with  a  hardened  heart  for 
over  a  year:  and  what  is  worse,  adding  evil  to  evil, 
having  knowledge  of  said  citation,  he  has  broken  out  in 
a  declaration  of  a  rash  appeal  to  a  future  council,  against 
the  decree  of  Pius  the  Second  and  Julius  the  Second  our 
predecessors,  whereby  they  who  thus  appeal  are  warned 
that  they  will  incur  the  penalty  of  heretics  (for  in  vain 
does  he  seek  aid  from  a  Council,  who  openly  declares 
that  he  does  not  believe  such  council) ;  so  that  against 
him,  as  one  notoriously  under  suspicion,  with  respect  to 
faith,  we  can  proceed,  without  further  citation  or  delay, 
to  his  condemnation  and  damnation,  as  that  of  a  heretic, 
and  to  the  severity  of  each  and  all  above-enumerated 
penalties  and  censures. 

[Repetition  of  this  kind  attempt.] 

Nevertheless,  at  the  advice  of  the  same  brethren,  imi- 
tating the  clemency  of  almighty  God,  who  wishes  not  the 
death  of  a  sinner,  but  rather  that  he  may  be  converted 
and  live,  forgetful  of  all  the  injuries  thus  far  offered  us 
and  the  Apostolic  see,  we  have  determined  to  exercise 
all  gentleness,  and,  so  far  as  in  us  lies,  to  act  so  that,  the 
way  of  clemency  being  offered  him,  he  may  be  brought 
back  to  his  senses,  and  withdraw  from  the  aforenamed 
errors,  that  we  may  kindly  receive  him,  as  a  prodigal 
returning  to  the  bosom  of  the  Church.  With  our  whole 
heart,  therefore,  we  exhort  and  beg  the  said  Martin  and 
his  adherents  and  his  harbourers  and  favourers,  by  the 
bowels  of  mercy  of  our  God,  and  by  the  sprinkling  of 
the  blood  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  by  and  through 
whom  the  redemption  of  the  human  race  and  the  build- 
ing up  of  the  holy  mother  Church  have  been  accom- 
plished, to  desist  from  disturbing  the  peace,  unity,  and 
truth  of  the  Church,  for  which  the  Saviour  so  earnestly 


Martin  Luther 


prayed  the  Father,  and  to  abstain  entirely  from  the  said 
pernicious  errors,  with  the  assurance  that,  if  they  effect- 
ually obey,  and  certify  us  by  legal  documents,  that  they 
have  so  obeyed,  they  shall  find  with  us  the  affection  of 
paternal  love,  and  the  opened  fountain  of  mildness  and 
clemency. 

[Luther  and  his  followers  silenced  and  given  sixty 
days  to  publicly  recant.] 

Enjoining,  nevertheless,  the  said  Martin,  from  now 
on,  meanwhile,  to  desist  from  all  preaching  or  office  of 
preaching,  and  otherwise  [declaring]  against  Martin 
himself,  that,  if  perchance  the  love  of  virtue  do  not 
withdraw  him  from  sin,  and  the  hope  of  indulgence  lead 
him  to  repentance,  the  terror  of  the  discipline  of  punish- 
ment may  restrain  him;  the  same  Martin  and  his  ad- 
herents, accomplices,  favourers,  and  harbourers,  we 
require  according  to  the  tenor  of  the  present  letters,  and 
we  admonish,  in  virtue  of  the  holy  obedience  [that  is 
due]  and  we  command  by  rigidly  directing  that,  under 
liability  of  incurring  by  the  deed,  each  and  all  the 
penalties  to  be  incurred  by  the  very  act,  that,  within 
sixty  days  immediately  following  (of  which  twenty  for  the 
first,  twenty  for  the  second,  and  the  remaining  twenty 
for  the  third  peremptory  limit),  to  be  reckoned  from  the 
posting  up  of  the  present  letters  in  the  below-named 
places,  Martin  himself,  his  accomplices,  favourers, 
adherents,  and  harbourers  aforementioned,  altogether 
desist  from  the  above-named  errors,  and  their  proclama- 
tion, publication,  assertion,  and  defence,  and  from  the 
circulation  of  books  or  writings  upon  them  or  any  of 
them,  and  that  they  burn  or  cause  to  be  burned  all  the 
books  and  writings,  containing,  in  any  way,  each  or  all 
the  aforesaid  errors,  or  any  one  of  them.  That  Martin 


LUDWIQ   VON    SECKENDORF, 

THE    HISTORIAN    OF   THE    REFORMATION. 
FROM    AN    ENGRAVING    BY    HEIN2ELMANN. 


Appendix  I  429 

himself  also  entirely  recall  such  errors  and  assertions, 
and  inform  us  concerning  such  recall  by  public  docu- 
ments, in  the  valid  form  of  law,  signed  by  two  prelates, 
and  to  be  transmitted  to  us  within  other  sixty  days,  or  in 
person  if  he  be  willing  to  come  to  us  (as  we  would  pre- 
fer) with  the  aforenamed  unlimited  safe-conduct,  which, 
from  now  on,  we  grant,  in  order  to  remove  every  scruple 
of  doubt  as  to  his  true  obedience. 

[If  they  do  not  recant  they  are  to  be  condemned  as 
heretics  and  handed  over  to  the  secular  arm  for  punish- 
ment.] 

But  if  (as  we  hope  not)  the  said  Martin  and  the  afore- 
said accomplices,  favourers,  adherents,  and  harbourers 
do  otherwise,  or  do  not  fulfil  effectually  each  and  all 
their  promises  within  the  set  limit,  in  accord  with  the 
teaching  of  the  Apostle,  who  declared  that  an  heretical 
man,  after  the  first  and  second  admonitions,  is  to  be 
avoided,  from  now  as  from  then,  and  conversely,  we 
condemn  the  same  Martin  and  the  said  accomplices, 
adherents,  favourers,  and  harbourers,  and  any  of  them, 
as  withered  branches  not  abiding  in  Christ,  but  teaching 
a  contrary  doctrine,  hostile  to  the  Catholic  faith,  whether 
scandalous  and  condemned,  to  the  no  small  offence  of 
the  divine  majesty,  and  a  detriment  and  scandal  to  the 
universal  Church  and  the  Catholic  faith,  depreciating 
the  keys  of  the  Church,  and  declaring  that  notorious 
and  obstinate  heretics  have  been  and  are  of  the  same 
authority,  and  as  in  the  rank  of  such  heretics;  and  we 
will  and  command  that  they  be  regarded  such  by  all  the 
faithful  in  Christ  above  mentioned  of  both  sexes.  These, 
all  and  each,  we  subject  to  all  the  above-named  and  other 
penalties  inflicted  by  law  against  such,  and  declare  and 
decree  that  they  are  and  have  been  ensnared  in  the  same. 


43°  Martin  Luther 

[The  Faithful  are  to  burn  the  writings  of  Luther,  under 
penalty  of  being  condemned  and  punished  like  him.] 

Under  liability  to  incur,  by  the  very  act,  all  and  each 
of  the  aforenamed  punishments,  we  enjoin  upon  each 
and  all  the  faithful  in  Christ  above  named,  not  to  pre- 
sume in  any  way  to  read,  quote,  refer  to,  praise,  print, 
publish,  or  defend,  either  by  themselves  or  by  another 
or  others,  directly  or  indirectly,  silently  or  expressly, 
publicly  or  secretly,  or  to  have  in  their  homes  or  other 
places,  public  or  private,  even  the  writings  or  any  of 
them  not  containing  the  above-named  errors,  that  have 
either  been  already  published  or  that  are  to  be  composed 
and  published  hereafter  by  the  said  Martin,  but,  as  afore- 
said, to  burn  them,  since  they  are  written  by  a  man 
hostile  to  the  orthodox  faith,  and,  therefore,  are  particu- 
larly under  suspicion,  and  that  the  memory  of  him  may 
be  entirely  obliterated  from  the  faithful  in  Christ. 

[The  Faithful  must  have  no  intercourse  with  the 
Lutheran  heretics  under  penalty  of  excommunication 
after  the  limit  has  been  passed.] 

Furthermore,  under  penalty  of  the  same  sentence  of 
excommunication,  we  admonish  each  and  all  the  above- 
mentioned  faithful  in  Christ,  after  the  expiration  of  the 
limit  stated,  to  avoid  the  declared  and  condemned 
heretics  aforesaid,  who  do  not  comply  with  our  com- 
mands, and,  so  far  as  they  can,  cause  them  to  be  avoided, 
and  neither  with  the  same  nor  with  any  of  them  to  have 
communication  or  any  conversation  or  intercourse,  nor 
to  supply  them  with  the  necessaries  of  life. 

[The  Faithful,  lay  and  clerical,  are  required  to  arrest 
Luther  and  his  followers  and  send  them  to  Rome  after 
the  limit  has  been  passed.] 

Besides,  for  the  greater  confusion  of  said  Martin  and 


Appendix  I  431 

his  accomplices,  favourers,  adherents,  and  harbourers, 
and  thus  of  those  declared  and  condemned  heretics  after 
the  expiration  of  the  fixed  limit,  we  command  each  and 
all  faithful  in  Christ  of  both  sexes,  Patriarchs,  Arch- 
bishops, Bishops,  the  Prelates  and  Chapters  and  other 
ecclesiastical  persons  of  Patriarchal,  Metropolitan,  and 
other  cathedral,  collegiate,  and  inferior  churches,  secu- 
lar or  regular,  whatever  be  the  Order  of  Mendicants 
(especially  those  of  the  congregation  of  which  said 
Martin  is  a  member,  and  in  which  he  is  said  to  be  living 
and  staying)  exempt  and  non-exempt,  and  each  and 
every  prince,  whatever  be  the  ecclesiastical  or  worldly 
dignity  in  which  he  shine,  Kings,  Electors  of  the  Em- 
peror, Dukes,  Marquises,  Counts,  Barons,  Captains, 
Conductors,  Chamberlains,  Communities,  Universities, 
Powers,  Cities,  Lands,  Camps,  and  places,  or  their  in- 
habitants, citizens,  and  tenants,  and  all  others,  each  and 
every  one,  above  mentioned  throughout  the  whole  World, 
especially  those  living  in  Germany,  that,  under  the  afore- 
named penalties,  all  and  each,  they  or  any  of  them,  per- 
sonally arrest  the  said  Martin,  and  his  accomplices, 
adherents,  harbourers,  and  favourers,  and  hold  them 
when  arrested  subject  to  our  demand,  and  send  them  to 
us,  to  receive  in  return  for  so  good  a  work  from  us  and 
the  Apostolical  See  due  remuneration  and  reward;  or, 
at  least,  that  the  clergy  and  the  members  of  Orders,  as 
well  as  the  laymen,  one  and  all  above  named,  entirely 
expel  them,  and -every  one  of  them,  from  the  Metro- 
politan, Cathedral,  Collegiate,  and  other  churches,  houses. 
Monasteries,  Convents,  Cities,  Domains,  Universities, 
Communities,  Camps,  Lands,  and  territories  respectively. 

[An   interdict   will    lie    upon    any   place   harbouring 
Luther  or  his  followers.] 


432  Martin  Luther 

But  the  Cities,  Domains,  Lands,  Camps,  Villages, 
palaces,  fortresses,  Towns,  and  places,  wherever  they 
may  lie,  as  well  as  their  Metropolitan,  Cathedral,  Col- 
legiate, and  other  churches,  Monasteries,  Priories, 
Houses,  Convents,  and  religious  places,  of  whatever 
order  (as  before  said),  to  which  the  said  Martin  or  any  of 
the  aforenamed  may  resort  are  to  be  shunned,  [and]  we 
subject  [them]  to  the  ecclesiastical  interdict  as  long  as 
he  remains  there  and  for  three  days  after  his  departure. 

[All  ecclesiastics  enjoined  to  announce  the  condemna- 
tion of  Luther  and  his  followers.] 

And,  in  order  that  what  is  above  declared  may  be 
made  known  to  all,  we  command  all  the  Patriarchs, 
Archbishops,  Bishops,  the  Prelates  of  the  Patriarchal, 
Metropolitan,  and  other  cathedral  and  collegiate  churches, 
Chapters,  and  other  ecclesiastical  persons,  whether  secu- 
lars or  regulars,  of  whatever  Order,  members  of  religious 
fraternities,  whether  exempt  or  non-exempt  monks,  as 
above  mentioned,  everywhere,  and  especially  those  living 
in  Germany,  that  they  or  any  of  them,  under  liability  of 
incurring  by  the  very  act  the  same  censures  and  penal- 
ties, to  publicly  announce  in  their  churches,  on  the 
Lord's  Day  and  other  festival  days,  when  the  largest 
number  of  people  assemble  for  divine  worship,  that  the 
said  Martin  and  each  and  all  those  above  mentioned, 
who  at  the  expiration  of  the  time  have  not  obeyed  our 
commands  and  admonitions,  have  been  declared  heretics, 
and  condemned,  and  to  cause  and  order  such  announce- 
ment to  be  made  by  others,  and  that  they  be  avoided  by 
all.  Likewise,  that  all  the  Christian  faithful  avoid  them, 
in  like  manner  under  the  abovenamed  censure  and 
penalties.  And  that  they  cause  the  present  letters  or  a 
copy  of  them  made  according  to  the  form  below  written, 


Appendix   I  433 

to  be  read,  published,  and  posted  in  their  churches, 
monasteries,  houses,  convents,  and  other  places.  We 
also  excommunicate  and  anathematise  each  and  all  of 
whatever  estate,  rank,  condition,  eminence,  dignity,  and 
excellence,  who  shall  do  aught  or  in  any  way  provide, 
by  himself,  or  through  another  or  others,  publicly  or 
secretly,  directly  or  indirectly,  silently  or  expressly,  to 
hinder  the  present  letters  or  transcripts  or  copies  thereof 
from  being  read,  posted  and  published  in  their  lands  and 
dominions. 

[Certified  copies  of  this  Bull  will  answer  in  place  of 
the  original  for  posting.] 

Lastly,  since  it  will  be  difficult  to  send  the  present 
letters  to  every  place  where  necessary,  we  determine  and 
decree  by  Apostolic  authority,  that  transcripts  of  the 
same  prepared  and  signed  by  the  hand  of  a  public  notary, 
or  printed  in  the  nourishing  City  [Rome],  and  attested 
by  the  seal  of  any  ecclesiastical  Prelate,  shall,  when  pre- 
sented or  displayed,  have  everywhere  equal  authority  and 
credit,  as  the  original  letters. 

[Plan  to  make  it  impossible  that  Luther  should  be 
ignorant  of  the  Bull.] 

And  lest  the  aforementioned  Martin  and  all  the 
others  above  named,  whom  the  present  letters  in  any 
way  concern,  should  be  able  to  pretend  ignorance  of 
these  same  letters  and  of  each  and  all  contained  therein, 
we  will  that  the  same  letters  be  published,  and  posted 
on  the  doors  of  the  Cathedral  of  the  Chief  of  the 
Apostles,  and  of  the  Apostolic  Chancellery,  as  well  as  of 
the  Cathedrals  of  the  churches  of  Brandenburg,  Meissen, 
and  Merseburg,  decreeing  that  the  publication  of  the 
same  letters  thus  made  binds  the  above-mentioned 


434  Martin  Luther 

Martin  and  each  and  all  others  whom  such  letters  con- 
cern, just  as  though  these  letters  on  the  day  when  they 
were  posted  up  and  published,  had  been  personally  read 
to  such  and  had  been  made  known  to  them,  since  it  is 
not  probable  that  those  things  which  are  done  so  openly 
should  remain  unknown  to  them. 

[No  legal  hindrance  to  the  Bull.] 

Nor  do  the  apostolical  laws  and  ordinances  oppose  any 
hindrance,  or,  if  any  indulgence  or  concession  exist  that 
has  been  conceded  to  all  and  each  of  the  above  men- 
tioned or  any  of  them,  or  to  any  others,  by  the  above- 
mentioned  Apostolical  See,  or  by  those  having  authority 
from  it,  under  whatever  form  (even  in  letters  of  indulg- 
ence and  with  some  most  strong  reservations)  or  from 
whatever  cause,  or  important  consideration,  that  they 
cannot  be  interdicted,  suspended,  or  excommunicated 
by  Apostolical  letters,  which  make  no  full  and  explicit, 
and  word  for  word  mention,  but  only  imply  the  same  by 
general  exceptions, — having  the  grants,  causes,  and  forms 
of  the  same  favour,  as  though  they  had  been  inserted 
word  for  word,  so  that  present  things  being  regarded  as 
expressly  stated,  the  entire  provision  is  annulled. 

[No  one  dare  oppose  the  Bull  under  penalty  of  the 
Divine  anger.] 

Let  no  one,  therefore,  infringe  upon,  or,  by  his  rash 
boldness,  contradict  this  page  of  our  condemnation, 
reprobation,  rejection,  decree,  declaration,  inhibition, 
will,  command,  exhortation,  obsecration,  requisition, 
monition,  assignment,  concession,  condemnation,  sub- 
jection, excommunication,  and  anathematisation.  If, 
however,  any  presume  to  attempt  this,  let  him  know 
that  he  shall  incur  the  indignation  of  Almighty  God  and 
of  the  Blessed  Apostles  Peter  and  Paul. 


Appendix  I  435 

Given  at  St  Peter's,  Rome,  in  the  year  of  the  incar- 
nation of  our  Lord,  the  One  Thousand  Five  Hundred 
and  Twentieth.  On  the  seventeenth  day  before  the  first 
of  July  [/.  e.,  Friday,  June  i5th].  The  Eighth  Year  of 
our  pontificate. 

Attested.     R.  MILANESIUS. 

ALBERGATUS. 

Printed  at  Rome  by  JACOB  MAZOCHIUS. 

By  command  of  S.  D.  N.  [/'.  <?.,  our 
holy  Lord]  Pope  [Leo  X.]. 

[As  the  papal  Bulls  are  called  after  the  opening  word 
or  words,  this  is  cited  as  "  Exsurge  Domini,"  these  being 
the  first  two  words.] 


APPENDIX  II 
LUTHER'S  CONFESSION 

[In  the  invaluable  series  of  volumes  that  have  been  in  process  of 
publication  under  the  authority  of  the  British  Government  for  a  num- 
ber of  years,  known  as  "  The  Master  of  the  Rolls  Series,"  there  is 
much  material  drawn  from  the  archives  of  various  European  govern- 
ments, bearing  upon  Luther  and  the  history  of  the  Reformation 
that  has  not  been  utilised  by  Church  historians.  In  the  volume  of 
the  Venetian  Papers,  published  under  the  title  :  Calendar  of  State 
Papers  and  Manuscripts  Relating  to  English  Affairs,  Existing  in 
the  Archives  and  Collections  of  Venice  and  in  Other  Libraries  of 
Northern  Italy,  vol.  iv.,  1527-1533,  edited  by  Rawson  Brown,  pub- 
lished by  the  authority  of  the  Lords  Commissioners  of  Her  Majesty's 
Treasury,  under  the  direction  of  the  Master  of  the  Rolls,  London, 
1871,  there  is  an  Appendix,  pp.  497-515,  with  thirty-five  docu- 
ments, under  the  heading  "  The  Confession  of  Augsburg."  Among 
these  documents  is  the  following  translation  of  what  is  called 
"  Luther's  Confession,"  which  is  marked  as  registered  by  Paul 
Sanuto,  the  Venetian  ambassador  to  Germany,  May  31,  1531.  It 
proves  to  be  a  most  admirable  translation  of  the  Schwabach  Articles 
of  October  16,  1529,  found  in  Latin  in  the  histories  of  the  Augsburg 
Confession  by  Chytraeus  (159  sqq.)  and  Coelestine  (25  sqq.).  The 
fact  that  at  the  date  given  it  was  in  the  hands  of  Sanuto,  indicates 
that  its  presentation  as  the  confession  of  the  Lutheran  Princes  was  at 
that  time  under  consideration.  The  dependence  of  the  Augsburg 
Confession  upon  it  is  self-evident.  We  insert  it  with  the  punctuation 
and  capitalisation  of  the  Roll  Series,  as  a  most  accurate  official  sum- 
mary of  Luther's  teaching.] 

436 


Appendix  II  437 

CONFESSION  OF  THE  OPINION  OR  MANIFESTO  (tfES- 
OLUTIO  INTENTIONIS}  OF  MARTIN  LUTHER; 
FOR  PROPOSAL  IN  THE  PRESENT  IMPERIAL 
DIET  OF  AUGSBURG,  COMPRISED  IN  SEVEN- 
TEEN ARTICLES. 

1st  Article. — Man  is  to  be  taught  firmly  and  "  unani- 
miter  ' '  that  the  only  (solum  unicum)  true  God  is  the 
Creator  of  Heaven  and  Earth,  so  that  (ita  guod)  in  the 
single  {unica)  true,  divine  essence,  there  be  three  dis- 
tinct persons,  namely,  God  the  Father,  God  the  Son, 
God  the  Holy  Ghost;  which  Son  begotten  of  the  Father, 
being  eternally  by  nature  from  the  beginning  true  God 
together  with  the  Father  and  the  Holy  Ghost  (proceed- 
ing ?)  from  the  one  and  the  other,  from  the  Father  and 
from  the  Son,  he  likewise  from  the  beginning  being 
eternally  by  nature  true  God  with  the  Father  and  the 
Son ;  all  which  can  be  clearly  and  irrefragably  demon- 
strated by  Holy  Writ,  according  to  the  First  of  John: 
"  In  the  beginning  was  the  Word  and  the  Word  was  with 
God,  and  the  Word  was  God.  All  things  were  made  by 
him,"  &c.,  and  in  the  last  of  Matthew:  "  Go  ye,  there- 
fore, and  teach  all  nations,  baptising  them  in  the  name 
of  the  Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost." 

Hnd  Article. — That  God's  Son  alone  became  man,  of 
a  pure  virgin  born,  perfect  in  body  and  mind;  nor  were 
the  Father  and  the  Holy  Ghost  made  man,  as  taught  by 
certain  heretics.  Moreover  the  Son  did  not  assume  the 
body  alone,  without  the  soul,  as  the  Phocinians  (Photi- 
niani)  said;  as  in  the  Gospel  he  himself  very  often 
speaks  of  his  soul,  as  when  he  says:  "  My  soul  is  sorrow- 
ful unto  death,"  &c. ;  and  that  the  Son  of  Man  be  man, 
is  expressly  said  by  St.  John,  chapter  i:  "And  the 
Word  was  made  flesh,"  and  in  the  4th  chapter  of  Gala- 


438  Martin  Luther 

tians:  "  But  when  the  fulness  of  the  time  was  come,  God 
sent  forth  His  Son,"  &c. 

Hlrd  Article. — That  God  the  Son,  true  God  and  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  be  one  sole  indivisible  Person,  [who]  suf- 
fered for  us  men,  was  crucified,  died,  was  buried,  rose 
again  the  third  day  from  the  dead,  ascended  into  heaven, 
sat  on  the  right  hand  of  God,  Lord  over  the  whole 
creation  (super  omnes  crcaturas)  so  that  it  neither  may 
nor  can  be  believed  or  taught  that  Jesus  Christ,  as  man, 
or  as  having  assumed  this  human  form,  suffered  for  us; 
but  that  it  should  be  believed  and  taught  that  under 
this  form,  being  God  and  man,  not  two  persons  but  one 
person  indivisible,  God  and  man,  Son  of  God,  he  really 
suffered  for  us:  as  in  St.  Paul's  Epistle  to  the  Romans: 
"  He  that  spared  not  his  own  son,  but  delivered  him  up 
for  us  all  ";  and  in  the  first  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians, 
chapter  2,  "  for  had  they  known  it,  they  would  not  have 
crucified  the  Lord  of  Glory." 

IVth  Article. — That  original  sin  be  a  real  sin  accord- 
ing to  the  correct,  true  quality,  nature  or  form  of  sin, 
and  not  merely  a  lack  (privacio)  deficiency,  or  want,  but 
sin  of  such  a  sort,  that  it  condemns  and  separates  from 
God  all  men  descended  from  Adam,  had  not  Jesus  Christ 
presented  himself  for  us,  taking  upon  himself  this  sin, 
and  all  sins  proceeding  thence,  atoning  for  them  by  his 
passion,  having  thus  entirely  removed  and  cancelled 
them  in  himself,  as  clearly  written  concerning  this  sin  in 
52  (sic  5ist)  Psalm  and  Rom.  5. 

Vth  Article. — As  now  therefore,  all  men  are  sinners 
subject  to  sin  and  death,  and  moreover  to  the  Devil 
likewise,  it  is  impossible  for  any  man  by  his  own 
exertions  and  good  works,  to  rid,  disembarrass  and 
free  himself  from  them  by  these  works,  or  by  their 
means  justify  himself  anew,  or  become  assuredly  good 


Appendix  II  439 

and  just;  nor  can  he  prepare  or  dispose  himself  for 
justice  or  justification;  nay,  the  more  he  proposes,  or 
intends,  labouring  of  himself  to  exonerate,  free  or  purge 
and  justify  himself,  the  worse  does  his  condition  become. 
The  only  way  therefore  to  justice  (justitiam)  and  the 
absolution  from  sin  and  death  is  this — without  any  merit 
or  work  to  have  faith  and  believe  in  the  Son  of  God, 
who  suffered  for  us,  etc.  as  aforesaid.  This  faith  is  our 
justice;  for  God  of  his  justice,  goodness  and  holiness, 
commands  (Deus  enim  vutt)  man  to  believe  and  hold, 
that  He  has  chosen  to  pardon  the  sins  of  all  men,  or 
give  them  gratuitously,  life  eternal.  Those  who  have 
this  faith  in  the  Son  of  God  are  through  that  Son  to  be 
received  into  His  grace,  and  be  sons  in  His  kingdom, 
etc.  All  these  things  are  taught  diffusely  by  Saints 
Paul  and  John,  in  their  epistles,  as  in  chapter  10  to  the 
Romans:  "  For  with  the  heart  man  believeth  unto 
righteousness,"  etc.  ;  and  in  the  3rd  chapter  of  St. 
John:  "  He  that  believeth  on  the  Son,  doth  not  perish, 
but  hath  everlasting  life." 

Vlth  Article. — That  this  faith  is  not  human,  nor  even 
possible  for  our  strength,  but  is  the  work  of  God,  and  a 
gift  which  the  Holy  Ghost  operates  in  us  given  us 
through  Christ;  and  such  like  faith,  when  not  feeble,  or 
an  infirm  opinion,  or  an  obscure  adhesion  of  the  heart, 
such  as  the  pseudo-faithful  have,  but  a  vigorous,  fresh, 
lively,  essential  substance,  is  a  thing  bearing  much  fruit; 
always  operating  good  things  with  regard  to  God,  prais- 
ing, thanking,  praying,  preaching  and  teaching;  with 
regard  to  man  (erga  proximum)  loving,  serving,  aiding, 
counselling,  lending  and  enduring  every  adversity  until 
death. 

VHth  Article. — To  acquire  for,  or  give  us  men  this 
faith,  God  instituted  the  office  of  preaching  or  the  word 


440  Martin  Luther 

of  the  allocution  of  the  mouth,  that  is  to  say,  of  the 
tongue,  namely  the  Gospel,  by  means  of  which  he  causes 
the  utility  and  fruit  of  this  faith  and  power,  or  virtue,  to 
be  promulgated  and  preached ;  and  for  this  same  word, 
thus  sown,  he  also  gives,  as  the  means,  the  faith,  through 
his  Holy  Ghost.  Notwithstanding  the  opinion  of  others, 
there  is  no  other  mode,  or  way,  or  path,  or  road,  to  ac- 
quire the  faith.  Our  meditations,  save  and  except  the 
word  of  mouth  (verbum  oris),  although  they  may  appear 
holy  and  good,  are,  nevertheless,  vain,  mendacious  and 
erroneous. 

Vlllth  Article. — With  regard  to  this  "word"  of 
preaching  {pradicationis)  delivered  by  the  living  mouth, 
or  together  with  it,  God  also  instituted  external  signs 
called  sacraments,  especially  baptism  and  the  eucharist, 
through  which,  together  with  the  "  word,"  God  also  gives 
faith  and  his  Holy  Ghost,  and  comfort  to  all  who  desire  it. 

IXth  Article. — Baptism — the  first  sign  or  sacrament — 
is  effected  by  two  things — by  water  and  by  the  word  of 
God.  Baptism  is  performed  by  water,  and  the  utterance 
of  the  word  of  God;  the  effect  being  produced  not  by 
mere  water  or  washing — as  now  taught  by  the  blasphem- 
ers about  baptism;  but  by  uniting  the  word  of  God  with 
the  sprinkling  of  water;  which  washing,  based  on  the 
word  of  God,  is  holy  and  efficacious;  as  in  St.  Paul's 
Epistle  to  Titus,  chapter  3,  and  to  the  Ephesians,  chapter 
5,  "  the  washing  of  regeneration  and  renewing  of  the 
Holy  Ghost  "  (Tit.  3:  5),  and  "  that  he  might  sanctify 
and  cleanse  it  with  the  washing  of  water  by  the  word  " 
(Eph.  5:  26).  And  this  baptism  be  administered  and 
communicated  even  to  infants,  as  the  words  of  God, 
whereon  baptism  is  based  are  these:  "  Go  ye,  therefore, 
and  teach  all  nations,  baptizing  them  in  the  name  of  the 
Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost  "  (Matth. 


Appendix  II  441 

28:  19).     He  who  will  believe,  must  believe  this  likewise 
(fui  c rediderit,  et  jam  ibi  oportet  credere). 

Xth  Article. — That  the  Eucharist  or  sacrament  of  the 
Altar,  consists  moreover  in  two  things,  and  especially 
that  there  be  truly  (veraciter)  present  in  the  bread  and 
wine,  the  true  body  and  blood  of  Christ,  according  to 
the  tenour  of  the  words:  "  This  is  my  Body;  this  is  my 
Blood,"  and  not  merely  the  bread  and  wine,  as  the  ap- 
pearance would  cause  it  to  be  believed.  These  words 
require  faith,  and  moreover  induce  it  in  all  who  desire 
the  sacrament,  and  do  not  act  contrary  thereto;  in  like 
manner,  as  baptism  also  lends  and  gives  faith,  when  the 
desire  for  it  exists. 

Xlth  Article.  —  That  secret  confession  ( confessio 
secreta)  ought  not  to  be  compulsory  as  precept  and  law, 
but  free,  neither  should  baptism  itself,  the  Sacraments, 
the  Gospel  (evangelium)  be  enforced  ;  though  it  be 
known  that  the  consolation  is  wholesome,  fruitful,  use- 
ful and  good;  that  tnereby  absolution — which  is  the 
word  and  sentence  of  God — is  given.  The  conscience 
being  thus  free,  relieved  and  tranquillized,  recovers  from 
its  mental  disquietude;  but  it  is  not  at  all  necessary  to 
enumerate  every  sin,  merely  notifying  and  concealing 
such  as  corrode  (mordent)  the  heart  and  disquiet  it. 

Xllth  Article. — That  there  is  no  doubt  whatever  but 
that  the  Holy  Christian  Church  will  last  on  earth  eter- 
nally, as  Christ  says  in  the  last  of  Matthew:  "  Lo,  I  am 
with  you  alway,  even  unto  the  end  of  the  world."  This 
Church  is  formed  by  the  believers  in  Christ,  who  main- 
tain, believe  and  teach  the  aforesaid  articles  and  par- 
ticulars (articulos  et  particulas)  and,  therefore,  suffer 
persecution  and  martyrdom  in  the  world;  for  where  the 
Gospel  is  preached  and  the  sacraments  rightly  adminis 
tered  or  conferred,  there  is  the  Holy  Christian  Church; 


442  Martin  Luther 

nor  is  it  to  be  fashioned,  instructed  or  bound  by  institu- 
tions, rights  or  laws,  by  extrinsics,  state,  pomp  or  mode 
of  living,  custom  or  habit,  nor  by  hours  or  seasons,  per- 
sons or  ceremonies. 

XHIth  Article. — That  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  will  come 
at  the  end  of  the  world,  to  judge  the  living  and  the  dead, 
and  will  free  his  faithful  [followers]  from  all  evil,  and 
will  lead  them  into  life  eternal;  he  will  punish  the  infidels 
and  those  condemned  by  God,  namely  bad  men ;  and  will 
condemn  them  eternally,  together  with  the  Devil,  to  Hell. 

XlVth  Article. — That  in  the  meanwhile  until  the  Lord 
shall  come  to  [pass]  judgment  and  [assume]  all  power 
(potestateni)  and  sovereign  dominion  (dominandi  superior - 
itateni),  the  secular  and  temporal  sovereignty  and  domin- 
ion is  to  be  honored  and  obeyed,  as  a  Government 
(statui),  thus  ordained  for  the  defence  of  good  men  and 
the  dispersion  of  the  wicked;  so  that  a  Christian  man 
when  cited  in  a  regular  or  legitimate  manner  for  this 
purpose,  without  deceit,  and  peril  to  his  faith  and  sal- 
vation of  his  soul,  may  bless  or  adhere  to  that  Govern- 
ment, and  serve  it  diligently. 

XVth  Article. — From  the  whole  writing,  it  appears, 
that  the  doctrine  which  forbids  marriage  to  priests  and 
friars — namely  the  clergy — and  to  the  people  in  general 
meat  and  food  (carnes  ac  eibos)  is  all  of  a  piece  (una 
pariter  cum  omni}. 

XVIth  Article. — That  amongst  all  the  errors  or  things 
to  be  avoided,  there  be  included  the  mass,  hitherto  con- 
sidered so  efficacious  and  so  much  reverenced,  that 
thereby  one  man  procured  grace  for  another.  Instead 
of  it  be  the  divine  ordinance  or  disposition  observed,  the 
Holy  Sacrament  of  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ;  be  it 
administered  under  both  forms  to  every  one,  according 
to  his  faith,  and  the  measure  of  his  need. 


DUKE  ERNEST  THE  PIOUS,  CHAMPION  OF  THE  LUTHERAN  CAUSE  IN 
THE  THIRTY  YEARS'  WAR. 

FROM  AN  ENGRAVING  BY  JACOB  8ANDRART. 


Appendix  II  443 

XVIIth  Article.  —  That  the  church  ceremonies  at 
variance  with  Holy  Writ  be  abolished.  The  observance 
of  the  others  to  be  optional,  in  such  wise  as  not  to  create 
scandal  causelessly  or  from  levity;  and  that  the  common 
peace  be  not  disturbed  unnecessarily. 

Registered  by  SANUTO, 
May  3 1  st. 


INDEX 


Absolution,  60,  97,  305 

Academic  ceremonies,  14,  16 

Ach  Gott  vom  Himmel,  230 

Adelmann,  177 

Adrian,  Matthew,  175 

Adrian  VI.,  Pope,  see  Popes 

Agricola,  John,  133,  138,  325  sq. 

Agricola,  Stephen,  287 

Aix-la-Chapelle,  152,  179 

Alberus  of  Reutlingen,  281,  317 

Albrecht,  Archbishop  of  May- 
ence  and  Magdeburg,  62  sq., 
69,  72,  80,  90,  103,  154,  156, 
201  sq. ,  277,  284,  328,  340 

Albrecht,  Count  of  Mansfeld, 
243,  401,  405 

Albrecht,  Duke  of  Prussia,  194, 
243  sq. 

Aleander,  157,  179-181,  184, 
1 86,  1 88,  194,  200 

Allstedt,  253  sq. 

Alms,  60,  73,  75 

Alsace,  258,  261 

Altars,  Church,  252 

Altenburg,  124  sq.,  301 

Altenstein,  199 

Ambrosian  Mass,  40 

Amsdorf,  Nicholas  von,  36,  42, 
55,  133,  135,  i83.  194,  198  sq., 
204,  212,  244,  264,  340  sq., 
400 

Anabaptists,  279,  283,  286,  310 

Ancestry,  4  sq. 


Anhalt,  Prince  of,  339,  400 

Anna,  St.,  9,  21 

Annaberg,  65 

Antichrist,    172    sq.,    175,    239, 

38i 

Antinomianism,  326  sq.,  366 
Antwerp,  242 
Apel,  John,  265 
Apocrypha,  143,  220 
Apology  of  Augsburg  Confession, 

301,  312,  317 
Aquinas,    Thomas,    16,    74,   90, 

94,  118,  123 
Arbitration,  260 
Archimbold,  62 
Aristotle,  37,  53  sq.,  56,  85 
Arms,  Coat  of,  302 
Arnoldi,  15,  55,  86 
Arts,   Bachelor  of,   19  ;    Master 

of,  19,  24 
Asterisks,  89 
Augsburg,  99,  102  sq.,  107-119, 

123,    128   sq.,   154,    194,  244, 

291,  305 
Augsburg   Confession,    295,  312 

Sf;   317 

Augustine,  23,  29,  35,  43,  45,  54, 
82,  132,  139,  249,  387 

Augustinians,  21,  23  sqq.,  35,  37 
sq.,  50  sq.,  74,  83  sq.,  90,  IO8, 
143,  177,  184,  237,  242,  244 

Aurifaber,  398,  401,  404 

Aurogallus,  204,  225 

Austria,  151,  222 

Ave  Maria,  25 


445 


446 


Index 


B 


Babylonian   Captivity,    162-164, 

220,  257,  333 
Baden,  194,  282 
Ball-playing,  234 
Bamberg,  284 
Baptism,  60,   147,   167  sqq.,  212, 

228,  279^.,  367  sqq.,  373 
Barnes,  Robert,  307,  312,  330 
Basel,  62,  113,  256,  258 
Basil,  142 

Bavaria,  222,  240,  304 
Benedictines,  199 
Berlepsch,  199 
Berlin,  33,  314,  327 
Bernard,  29 
Betrothals,  342  sqq. 
Beyer  (Baier),  Leonard,  84,  107- 

110 
Bible,  rinding  of,  36  ;  study  of, 

23,  25,  42,  82 
Biel,  15  sq.,  26 
Billicanus,  86,  155 
Birthdays,  399 
Bishop,  139,  158,  163,  226,  244, 

246,   307,    340  sq.,  343,  362, 

388,  400 
Bock,  194 
Bockelson,  310 
Bohemians,    140,    142,    145   sq., 

245  sq.,  322 
Bora,  Catherine  von,   258,  263- 

267,  398,  400,  403 
Brandenburg,    169  ;    Bishop  of, 

69,  80 ;  Elector  of,  194,  284, 

338  ;  Margrave  of,  307  ;  Order 

of,  243  ;  Princess  of,  398 
Brandenburg-Mark,  328 
Braun,  13,  37 
Bremen,  243,  245 
Brentz,  John,  86,  229,  244,  287 

sq.,  308 
Breslau,  244 
"  Brethren  of  the  Common  Life," 

ii 
"  Brethren  of   the  Free  Spirit," 

48 

Breviary,  19,  28 
Briesmann,  244 


Brisger,  266 

Brueck,  Chancellor,  49,  325 
Brueck,  Simon,  pastor,  49,  218 
Brunswick,  230,  330,  342  ;  Henry 

of,  401 

Bucer,  Martin,  86  sq.,  185,  244, 
256,  264,  287,  300,  316  sq., 
322,  332  sqq.,  339,  342 
Bugenhagen,  204,  218,  225,  229, 
245,  264  sq. ,  276,  282,  303, 
309,  315 1  320,  323,  400,  407  j?. 


Cahera,  Gallus,  246 

Cajetan,  102,  104,  110-123,  I28 

sqq.,  154,  157 
Call,  376 
Campeggi,  239 
Canonical     Books,     143,     226  ; 

Hours,   25 ;    Law,    175,    177, 

342 
Capito,   201  sq.,  217,  244,  256, 

317 

Cappel,  306 
Carlstadt,    37,    41,    55,    77,    90, 

129 sq.,  133-135, 169,  204, 212, 

218,   247,  251,   253,   255-258, 

264,  279,  281  sq.,  285 
Carmelites,   40,    108,   113,    118, 

1 20 

Carracoli,  179 
Cassel  Conference,  325 
Cassel,  George,  283 
Catechisms,  29,  274  sq. 
Catharinus,  183 
Ceremonies,  Church,  9,  164,  219, 

292,  329 

Chalcedon,  Council  of,  324 
Chance,  228  sq. 
Charles  V.,   103,   149-152,    156, 

177,    179-181,    194-197,    199. 

221,  236,  239  sq.,  284  sq.,  291, 

295  sq.,  301,  304,  316,  339  sq.t 

345  sq.,^ogsq. 
Chieregati,  237 
Children,  training  of,  8,  10 
Choristers,  231 
Christ,  doctrine  of,  319,  348  sq., 

356  sqq. 


Index 


447 


Christian  II.,  245,  269 

Christmas  hymn,  232 

Christology,  348  sq.,  352,  359 
sqq. 

Church  :  antiquity,  386  ;  author- 
ity, 91-93,  100  sq.,  127,  131, 
140-142,  377;  definition,  91- 
93,  146,  376,  382 ;  govern- 
ment, 377  ;  holiness,  385  ; 
marks,  379  ;  perpetuity,  385  ; 
unity,  383 

Cicero,  18 

Civil  government,  222-224 

Classics,  Greek  and  Latin,  17  sq., 

234 

Coblentz,  128 
Coburg,  83,  292-302 
Cochkeus,  222,  300 
Coelius,  404,  406 
Collects,  28,  228 
Cologne,   129,   174,   181  ;    Arch- 
bishop of,  338,  342 
Communion  of  Saints,  132,  141, 

3?6,  385 

Communion  Service,  228 
Communism,  253,  317 
Confession,  39,  60,  66,  72,  95 
Confessional,  182,  252 
Confessional  Service,  218 
Confirmation,  164 
Confutation,  300  sq. 
Congregations,  rights  of,  388 
Consecration  of  bishops,  340  sq.  ; 

churches,  362 
Conservatism,  386 
Consistories,  343 
Constance,  Council  of,  142,  192 
Constantine,  Donation  of,  154 
Constantinople,  Council  of,  324 
Constitutions,  Church,  307 
Consubstantiation,  372 
Contarini,  187,  193 
Contrition,  68,  73 
Cordatus,  325 
Correspondence,   53,    131,    148, 

296  sqq. 

Cotta,  Ursula,  n  sqq. 
Council,    ill,    122,    172,  igisj., 

238  sqq.,  300,  315  sq.,  318  sq., 

324,  387  sy. 


Cranach,  Luke,  6,  198,  204,  265 
Crespy,  Peace  of,  345 
Crotus,  153,  155 
Cruciger,    244,    287,    325,    330, 
399 

D 

D'Ailly,  15,  26 

Dead,  prayers  for,  390  ;  state  of, 

388  sq. 
Decretals,  88 
Denck,  254,  295 
Denmark,  229,  245,  304,  324 
Dessau,  268 
Dietrich,   Veit,    229,   294,    296, 

398 

Discipline,  church,  305 
Dissensions,  384 
Dominicans,  63,  86,  90  sq,,  98, 

102,  122,  144,  183,  185 
Dorpat,  245 
Dresden,  50,  52 
Dressel,  Michael,  52 
Duengersheim,  132 
Duerer,  244 

E 

Eastern  Church,  142 

Eck,  John,  89  sq.,  129  sq.,  133- 

146,    156  sq.,    168-172,     177, 

295  ^q.,  300 
Eck,  John  von,  188,    190,   192, 

195 

Education,  233  sq. 
Ein  feste  Burg,  195,  231  sq. 
Eisenach,  n  sqq.,  37,  174,  199, 

252,  316 
Eisleben,  $sq.,  21,  50,  261,  325, 

401,  405,  407 
Election  of  pastors,  227,  259  sq., 

388 

Eraser,  145,  222 
English,   negotiations  with,  312 

s?.,  330 

Ephesians,  Epistle  to,  350 
Ephesus,  Council  of,  324 
Epiphanius  Cyprius,  142 
Epistolte  Obscurorum    Virorum, 

153 


44* 


Index 


Erasmus,  53  J?.,  63,  82,  87,  150, 
iSojy.,  206,  246  sq.,  281,  408, 
411 

Erfurt,  12  sqq.,  15,  21  jy. ,  30, 
37,  39,  41,  44,  50,  55,  78,  84, 
87  sq.,  100,  130,  170,  183,  205, 

220 

Erfurt  Enchiridion,  331 
Erich,  Duke,  193 
Esch,  229,  243 
Eschatology,  388  sqq. 
Esslingen,  244 
Evangelist,  244 
Excommunication,  100  sq.,  122, 

169 

Experience,  Christian,  348  sq. 
Extreme  Unction,  164 


Faber,  300 

Faith,  163-167,  216,    361    sqq., 

373,  389 

Fastings,  60,  75 

Fathers,  132,  140,  143,  161,  324 

Ferdinand,  Archduke,  237,  239 
sq.,  284,  304 

Fleck,  79 

Florence,  38 

Flowers,  399 

"  Form  of  God,"  358 

Formal  Principle,  42,  96,  in 

FSrster,  225 

Fox,  Bishop  of  Hereford,  312 

France,  269,  284,  304,  345 

Francis  I.,  149-152,  180,  197, 
269,  312,  345 

Franciscans,  108,  144 

Franconia,  259 

Frankenhausen,  261 

Frankfort-on-the-Main,  150,  185, 
198  ;  Convention  of,  328 ; 
Truce  of,  338 

Fraternity.  161 

Frederick  the  Wise,  Elector,  30, 
34,  41,  63,  68  sqq.,  81,  83  sq., 
96,  99  sq.,  IOO,  IO2  sqq.,  107, 
121  sq.,  125,  129,  147-152, 
156,  170,  175,  180  sq.,  186, 
193,  197,  200 sq.,  212  sq.,  215, 
237  sq.,  240  sq.,  245,  253,  409 


Freedom   of  a    Christian  Man, 

164-167,  170,  257,  410 
Freiburg,  113 
Freundsburg,  189 
Friedberg,  198 
"  Friends  of  God,"  48 
Frosch,  1 20,  244 
Fuggers,  63 


Galatians,  Epistle  to,  44,  131, 
147,  350 

Geistliches  Gesangbuch,  231 

Genesis,  308,  323,  401 

George,  Duke,  50,  130,  132, 
137,  140,  143,  194,  215,  220, 
222,  242,  261,  268  sq.,  284, 
304  sq.,  308  sq.,  328,  331 

George,  Sir,  200 

George,  St.,  9 

Gerbelius,  282 

German  language,  207,  211  ; 
people,  17,  161,  169,  234 

Germany,  126,  151,  190 

Gerson,  John,  15  sq.,  26 

Ghinucci,  98 

Girls,  education  of,  234 

Glapio,  185 

Goede,  36 

Gospel,  350,  365  sq.,  369,  373 

Gotha,  50,  184,  320,  322 

Gowns,  329 

Grace,  54.  85 

Greek,  44,  53,  95,  105 

Gregorian,  40 

Gregory  Nazianzen,  142 

Grimma,  316 

Cropper,  339 

Guenther,  55 

Guilt,  60 

Gustavus  Vasa,  245 

H 

Hagenau,  335,  338 

Halle,  201,  277,  314,  340,  402, 

407,  409 
Hamburg,  245 
Hans  Wurst,  342 
Hapsburg,  150 


Index 


449 


Hausmann,  Nicholas,  228 
Heath,  Archbishop  of  York,  312 
Heaven,  389,  393 
Hebrew,  105,  208,  214,  225 
Hebrews,  Epistle  to,  25,  44 
Hedio,  287 

Heidelberg,  83-87,  94,  101,  256 
Heinse,  see  Brueck 
Helfenstein,  Count,  260 
Hell,  391 

Henry,  Duke  of  Brunswick,  341 
sq. ;    Duke    of    Saxony,    329, 

341 
Henry  VIII.,   151,  220  sq.,  248, 

264,   269,   306  sq.,   312,    315, 

332 

Heresies,  384 

Hermann  of  Cologne,  338,  342 
Hersfeld,  199 
Herzberg,  35,  50 
Hess,  244,  282 
Hesse,  see  Philip 
Hesshusius,  232 
Hierarchy,  374 
History,  234 
Holy  water,  329 
Hospitals,  38 
Humanism,  15,  17,  63,  153,  161, 

179,  278 

Humiliation  of  Christ,  358 
Hund,  Burchard  von,  199 
Hungary,  285 

Hus,  70,  140-142,  185,   190,  246 
Hutten,  63,  153-155,  179,   186, 

215 
Hymns,  229-233 


Iconoclasm,    205,    211    sq.,    252 

sf.,  255 

Images,  211,  255 
Incarnation,  47,  357 
Indulgences,   59—69,    71   sq.,   75 

sq.,  80,  110,  121,  127,  143 
Infant  Baptism,    212  sqq.,  217, 

252,  310,  369 
Ingoldstadt,  89,  129,  142 
Innsbruck,  63 
Inquisition,  180 


Interest  on  Loans,  148,  252 
Isabella  of  Denmark,  236,  239 
Isaiah,  308 


James,  Epistle  of,  350 

Jena,  86,  214,  252,  255,  314 

Jerome,  54,  82,  368,  387  ;  of 
Prague,  246 

Jewels,  court,  219 

Jews,  the,  345,  391 

Joachim  of  Brandenburg,  328 

Job,  Book  of,  226 

John,  Elector  of  Saxony,  241, 
253  sq.,  268  sq.,  276,  284^., 
291  sq. ,  301,  306  sq.,  409 

John,  Gospel  of,  308,  350 

John  Frederick,  Elector  of  Sax- 
ony, 253  sq.t  299,  306,  308 
sq.,  312,  318,  320,  341,  342, 
344,  346,  400  sqq.,  407 

Jonas,  Justus,  156,  186,  194,  229, 
257,  265,  276,  287,  299,  330, 
340,  402,  404,  406  sqq. 

Jueterbock,  69,  146 

Jurists,  343  sq. 

Justification,  47,  114  sq.,  325, 
339,  361  sq. 

K 

Kaiser,  Leonard,  276 

Keys,    Power  of,    132,   135   sq. , 

378,  383 

Kingship  of  Believers,  166 
Kling,  343 
Knaake,  89 
Koppe,  Leonard,  265 
Krauth,  410 
Krautwald,  282 
Kronberg,  Hartmuth  von,    237, 

242 
Kunheim,  396 


Laity,  see  Laymen 
Lambert,  Francis,  271 
Lange,  John,  19,  44,  55,  78,  84, 
100,  133,  144,  157 


450 


Index 


Language  question,  211 

Languages,  234,  247 

Last  Day,  391 

Latin,  211 

Latomus,  200 

Law,  study  of,  15,  20 

Law   and   Gospel,   43,   45,    85, 

326,  350,  360 
Laymen,  144,  157,  162  sq. 
Leipzig,  32  sq.,  63,  125,  130 sqq., 

153,  168,   174,   215,  245,  329, 

400 

Leisnig.  227 
Lenin,  Abbot  of,  80 
Libraries,  public,  234 
Lichtenberg,  170 
Liebenwerda,  129 
Link,    Wenceslaus,    19,  47   sq., 

100,  108-110,  117,  244,  264 
Livy,  17 
Lochau,  311 
Logic,  15  sq.,  88 
Lombard,  Peter,  37 
Lombardy,  38 
Lord's  Suppen,47, 162-164,  246, 

252,    256    sq.,    278-284,    2S8 

sqq.,  308,  317  sqq.,  367  sqq., 

370  sqq.  ;  both  forms  in,  211, 

218  sq.,  245,  325 
Love,  Christian,  165,   167 
Luebeck,  230,  303 
Lupinus,  55 
Luther,  Catherine,  Luther's  wife, 

see  Bora 
Luther,  Elizabeth,  his  daughter, 

276 
Luther,  Henry,  his  grandfather, 

5 

Luther,  James,  his  brother,   7 
Luther,  John  (Hans),  his  father, 
5   sqq.,  9  sq.,   12,   15,    31  sq., 
202  sq.,  265  ;  his  son,  275,  294, 

395 

Luther,  Magdalena,  his  daugh- 
ter, 396  sq. 

Luther,  Margaretta,  his  mother, 
see  Ziegler  ;  his  daughter,  396 

Luther,    Martin,   his   son,    305, 

395 
Luther,  Paul,  his  son,  306,  395 


"  Lutheran,"  the  name,  206 
M 

Madrid,  Peace  of,   269 
Magdeburg,  10  sq.,   50,  230,  244 
Magistrates,  222,  310 
Magnificat,  182,  200 
Malderbach,  253 
Mansfeld,  6,  n  sq.  ;  Counts  of, 

7,  9,    IOO,  243,  251,  401  sqq. , 

404 

Mantua,  Council  at,  316 
Manuel,  182 
Marburg,  287-290,  352  ;  Articles, 

281 
Margaret  de  Sale,   332  sq.  ;    of 

the  Netherlands,  242 
Marriage,  164,  263-267,  343 
Mass,  31,  39,  163  sqq.,  211,  216, 

219,  228,  241,   286,  313,  319, 

329.  373 

Material  Principle,  42,   in 

Mathematics,  234 

Matins,  227 

Matthesius,  19,  25,  44,  398 

Matthiesen,  310 

Maurice,  Duke,  341 

Maximilian  I.,  34,  64,  99,  102 
sq.,  108,  125,  149,  154,  260 

Mayence,  152,  187,  277 

Mazzolini,  91 

Means  of  Grace,  162 

Mecheln,  38 

Mecklenberg,  243,  330 

Meissen,  169 

Melanchthon,  7,  12,  18,  26,  37, 
43  sq.,  71,  105  sq.,  133,  135, 
138,  145  sq.,  153  sq.,  170,  175, 
204,  212-214,  217,  22O,  225, 
229,  233,  237,  247,  257,  260, 
265  sq.,  287  sq.,  294  sqq.,  300, 
312,  321,  327,  332  sqq.,  342 
sq.,  400 sq.,  403,  407  sqq. 

Merseburg,  130,  156,  169,  400 

Milan,  40 

Miltitz,  122-125,  128,  130,  165, 
170 

Mincio,  122 

Ministry,  158,  203,  305,  375 


Index 


Miracles,  127 

Missal,  19,  28 

Moehra,  5  sq.,  199 

Moeller,  Henry,  242  sqq. 

Monachism,  22  sq. 

Monasteries,  205,  237 

Monheim,  118 

Morals,  laxness  of,  344^.,  392, 

400 

More,  212 

Mosellanus,  134,  138 
Muehlhausen,  28,  254,  258 
Muenzer,  212,  251,  253  sqq.,  258, 

261,  306 

Music,  18,  21,  234,  399 
Myconius,  Frederick,  65  sq.,  79, 

117,  287 
Mysticism,  16,  47  sq.,  351 


N 


Natin,  26 

Naumburg,  340 

Neale,  43 

Netherlands,  151,  180,  229,  238, 
242,  258 

Neustadt,  50,  52 

Nice,  Council  of,  131,  324 

Nicene  Creed,  228 

Nobility,  Address  to,  157 

Noerdlingen,  86 

Nohra,  183 

Noll  Brothers,  II 

Nominalism,  15  sq. 

Nordhausen,  50,  55 

Nun  frent  euch  lieben  Christen 
Gemein,  232 

Nuremberg,  38,  50,  55,  100,  108, 
Ii8.r?.,  123,  145,  155  sq.,  237 
sqq.,  243  sq.,  254,  264,  282, 
292,  294,  299,  304  sq. ,  308 


O 


Obelisks,  89 

Occam,  15  sq.,  26,  28 

(Ecolampadius,    145,  247,    282, 

287  sq.,  316 
Oemler,  10 
Oppenheim,  185,  198 


Orders,    (church    constitutions), 

227,  256,  307  sq.,  329 
Ordination,  246,  362,  375,  388 
Organization,  204,  227 
Original  Sin,  274,  353  sqq. 
Orlamuende,  252^.,  264 
Osiander,  A.,  229,  238  sq.,  243, 

287,  305,  308 
Ovid,  18 


Pack,  284 

Palatinate,  260  ;  Elector  of,  338 
Paltz,  26 
Pappenheim, 186 
Paris,  121,  129  ;  see  also  Univer- 
sity 

Passau,  277 

Passion,  Meditations  on  the,  131 
Pastors,  227,  378,  388 
Paul,  St.,  35,  44 
Peasants,  39,  251-262 
"  Pecca  fortiter,"  327 
Penances,   60  sqq.,  166  sq.,   72, 

74 

Penitence,  67  sq.,  72 
Pentateuch,  226 
Perusco,  98 
Pesth,  243 

Peter,  First  Epistle  of,  350 
Peter  the  Barber,  310 
Petersen,  the  brothers,  245 
Petzensteiner,  183,  199 
Peutinger,  112,  194  sq. 
Pfeiffer,  254,  258,  261 
Pflug,  340 
Philip,  Landgrave  of  Hesse,  193, 

243,  261,  268,  284  sq.,  287  sq.. 

300,  311,  331,  341  sq.,  401 
Philosophy,  15,  88 
Picnics,  family,  399 
Pilate's  Staircase,  39 
Pilgrimages,  60 
Pirkheimer,  155,  169,  177 
Pistoris,  34 
Plague,    Visitations  of,    33..    35. 

i?5,  275  sq-,  3M 
Plato,  85,  188 
Plautus,  1 8 


452 


Index 


Polenz,  George  von,  244 

Poliander,  244 

Pollich,  34  sqq.,  37 

Polygamy,  332  sq. 

Pomerania,  229 

Pope,  the,  72,  92  sq.,  97  sq., 
in,  114,  118,  387,  128,  132, 
137-142,  146,  151  sq.,  155, 157 
-164,  184,  191,  319,  346 

Popes:  Adrian  VI.,  236,  238, 
248  ;  Boniface  VIII.,  93  ; 
Clement  VI.,  in  ;  Clement 
VII.,  239  sq.,  284,  306  sq.  ; 
Julius  II.,  93  ;  Leo  X.,  62  sq., 
90  sq.,  95  sq.,  98,  103  sq.,  119, 
121, 125-127, 151,  154, 165, 171 
-173,  182,  236,  248  ;  Nicholas 
V.,  65  ;  Paul  III.,  316,  345 
sq.  ;  Sixtus  IV.,  in  ;  Sylves- 
ter, 131 

Postils,  182,  2OO  sq.,  282,  309 

Prague,  246 

Prayer,  19,  28,  47,  160,  390 

Prayers,  195*^.,  296,  336,  405 

Preacher,  Luther  as  a,  48  sqq., 
136  sq.,  201 

Preaching,  19 

Predestination,  27,  30,  50,  54, 
279.  355  sq. 

Prierias,  91,  98,  171 

Priesthood  of  Believers,  45,  157, 
166,  305,  375 

Priesthood,  the,  31 

Priests,  72,  374 

Private  Judgment,  387 

Probst,  243,  245 

Proles,  23,  30 

"  Protestant,"  the  name,  286 

Prussia,  244 

Psalms,  29,  42 sqq.,  82,  131,  147, 
183,  2OO,  225  sq.,  229,  245, 
282,  293^.,  308,  406 

Psalter,  25,  43,  294,  406 

Public  Schools,  234 

Punishments,  60,  390 

Purgatory,  39,  61,  64  sq.,  73,  98, 
129,  143 


Queiss,  244 


Rabe,  328 

Radicalism,  381 

Ranke,  142 

Ratisbon,  240,  339 

Regius,  244,  264 

Reineck,  n 

Reinhard,  Martin,  258 

Relics,  68,  240 

Repentance,  31,  72,  74,  81,  95 

97,  147,  162,  319,  368 
Resolutiones,    94-98,     112  ;     of 

Body,  392 
Responsories,  329 
Resurrection  of  Christ,  360 
Reuchlin,  43,  95,  105,  153 
Reval,  245 

Revelation,  Book  of,  219 
Revelations,  253,  310 
Riga,  245 
Riot,  205 

Rochlitz,  Duchess  of,  332 
Roerer,  225,  276 
Romans,  Epistle  to,  25,  44,  54, 

220,  308,  350,  355  sq.,  407 
Rome,  38  sqq.,  98,  101,  118,  121, 

129, 169 

Rothenburg,  256,  355 
Rottman,  310 
Rupf,  Conrad,  271 


Sabbath,  252 

Sachs,  Hans,  244 

Sacraments,  112,  116,  162-164, 
2l8,  279  sq.,  367  sqq. 

Saints,  communion  of,  132,  141  ; 
intercession  of,  127,  329  ;  in- 
vocation of,  319  ;  superfluous 
merits  of,  97 

Salza,  50 

Salzburg,  104,  124,  177,  240,  284 

Sangerhausen, 50 

Sanhedrim,  399 

Satisfaction,  bosgy.,  67  sq.,  72, 

75,  95,  97 
Savonarola,  77 

Saxony,  181,  220, 222,  227,  242 
Schaerding,  277 


Index 


453 


Schalbe,  n 

Schenck,  325 

Scheurl,  36,  55,  108 

Schisms,  384 

Schleitz,  291 

Schmalkald,  318,  320,  324,  336  ; 

Articles,   132,    318-321,    326  ; 

League,  304-312,  318  sq.,  321 
Schnepf,  86,  244 
Schoenitz  (Schantz),  328 
Scholasticism,     Scholastics,     15, 

17,   26,   53  sqq.,  86,  88,  174, 

238, 352 

Schools,  233  sqq. 
Schurf,  Jerome,  77, 186, 189, 194, 

198,  215  sq.,  265  sq.,  342  sqq. 
Schwabach  Articles,  291,  295 
Schwartzburg,  Count  of,  402 
Schweinitz,  69  sq. 
Schwenckfeldt,  282 
Scriptures,  23,  25,  42,  93,  96,  in 

sqq.,  159,  189,   212,   214,  308, 

324,  348  sqq. 
Sects,  384 
Sententiarists,  37 
Serfdom,  260 
Sermon,  228 
Serralonga,  109 
Service,  256,  280 
Service,  Preparatory,  218 
Sickingen,   152,   154,    179,    185, 

236  sq. 

Sieberger,  397 
Silesia,  283 
Simancas,  151 
"  Solafidianism,"  361 
Spalatin,  69,  81,  99,   102,    104, 

107,  119,  148,  175,   185,  194, 

201,  219,  241,  301,  323,  330 
Spengler,  156,  169,  177,  244,  301 
Speratus,  229,  344 
Spires,  Diets  of,  269,  285,  291, 

301,  345 
Spreng,  242 
Sprengel,  230 
Staupitz,    23  sq.,  30  sq.,  35  sqq., 

41,  49,  69,  82-84,  95,  104,  no, 

112,  117,  145, 149,  161, 171  sq. 
Stiefel,  244,  311 
Storch,  212,  217 


St.  Peter's,  39,  62,  76 

Strabo,  18 

Strassburg,    194,    244,   256,    281 

sqq. 

Strauss,  252,  282 
Stuebner,  212,  217 
Sturm,  183 
Supererogation,  61 
Superintendents,  307 
Swaven,  183 
Sweden,  245 
Swiss,  214  sq.,  287,  322 
Switzerland,  254 
Swords,  the  two,  97 
Sybilla,  Electress,  306 
Syngramma,  282  sq. 


Table-Talk,  398 

Tauber,  243 

Tauler,  45  sqq. 

Te  Deum,  176,  243,  341 

Ten  Commandments,  211,  280 

Terence,  18 

Terminists,  15 

Tessaradecas,  147 

Testament,  New,  circulation  of, 
221  sqq.,  225,  235  ;  Old,  valid- 
ity of,  222,  255  ;  see  Translat- 
ing 

Tetzel,  63-66,  69,  77,  80  sq.,  90, 
122,  124  sq.,  201 

Theologia  Germanica,  48 

Theology,  37  ;  Bachelor  of,  37  ; 
Doctor  of,  40  sq. ;  Licentiate  of, 
40 

Theses,  XCV.  (Oct.  31,  1517),  3-1, 
42,  59-81,  88,  91,  94-98,  114, 
407  sq.  ;  XCVII.  (Sept.  4, 

1517),  54 
Thomists,  16,  55 
Thuringia,  5,  199,  254 
"  Tibi"  29 
Tithes,  259  sq. 
Titus,  Epistle  to,  44 
Torgau,  285,  292,  400  ;  Alliance, 

269  ;  Articles,  295 
Translating,  206  sqq. ,  219.  225, 

228,  348 
Transubstantiation,  162,  280,372 


454 


Index 


Trebonius,  12 

Trent,  Council  of,  345.  405 

Treves,  Archbishop  and  Elector 

of,  124,  128,  188,  194  sq.,  236, 

338 

Trinity,  319,  352  sq. 
Truttvetter,  15,  36,  42,  55,  88 
Turks,   the,  62,    102    sq.,    171, 

221,  237,  240,  269,  285,  292, 

300  sq.,  339,  345,  391,  399 
Twelve  Articles,  259  sq. 

U 

Ulrich,  Duke,  288,  311 

Uniformity,  40 

Unity,  Christian,  383 

Universities,  161,  169 

University  of  Cologne,  144  ; 
Erfurt,  12  sqq.,  35  sqq.,  41 
sq.,  143  sq.,  153,  156,  183  ; 
Frankfort,  34 ;  Heidelberg, 
84;  Leipzig,  34  sq.,  130; 
Louvain,  144,  200,  236,  242  ; 
Mayence,  80  ;  Paris,  113,  122, 
143  sq.,  180  ;  Tuebingen,  30, 
35;  Wittenberg,  30,  34  sqq., 
41  sqq.,  77,  81,  84,  99,  105, 
131,  148  sq.,  174-176,  204, 
251,  253,  266,  308,  314,  323, 
409 

Usingen,  15,  87 

Usury,  147  sq.,  252 

Utraquists,  245 


Valla,  154 

Vatican  Council,  91,  no 

Vehus,  194 

Venice,  287 

Vergerius,  314,  316 

Vergil,  1 8 

Vespers,  227 

Vestments,  211 

Vienna,  243,  285 

Visitations,  51,  220,  307 

Voes,  229,  243 

Von  Himmel  hoch,  232 

Vow,  Monastic,  21,  25  sq.,  163, 

202 
Vulgate,  the,  206  sq.,  222 


W 

Wafers,  211 
Walter,  John,  271 
Wartburg,  5,  12,  199-207 
Weimar,    107,    184,    254,    292, 

334  sqq- 
Weinmann,  19 
Weinsberg,  260 
Wertheim,  194 
Westphalia,  310 
Wiclif,  140,  190 
Will,  freedom  of,  134,  136,  246, 

248  sq.,  325,  355;    servitude 

of,  249 

Wimpfen,  244 
Wimpina,  81,  300 
Winkler,  277 
Wittenberg,  33  sqq.,  et  passim  ; 

Concord,  316  sqq. 
Wolfgang  of  Anhalt,  402 
\Vord,  the,  155,  164,  166,  216, 

242,  279  sq.,  310,  367,  380 
World,  end  of,  391 
Worms,  Diets  of,  34,  181,  184- 

197  ;  Edicts  of,  184,  235,  237, 

239  sq.,  286,  301 
Worship,  228,  256,  280 
Wuerttemberg,  86,  258,  282,  311 
Wuerzburg,  Bishop  of,  83,  284 
Wurzen,  341 


Zeitz,  399 

Zell,  244,  264 

Zerbst,  69 

Ziegler,     Margaretha,     Luther's 

mother,  7  sqq.,  305 
Ziegler,  Prof.,  225 
Zobern,  261 
Zuetphen,  242  sqq. 
Zulsdorf,  398  sq. 
Zurich,  258,  274 
Zwickau,  212,  217  sq.,  220,  228, 

310 

Zwilling,  204,  211  sq.,  214,   217 
Zwingli,  278-283,  288  sq.,  295, 

306, 316 

Zwinglianism,  287,  325 
Zwinglians,  286  sq. 


Jl  Selection  from  the 
Catalogue  of 

G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS 


Complete  Catalogues  sent 
on  application 


HEROES  OF  THE  REFORMATION 


I.— MARTIN  LUTHER  (1483-1546).     The  Hero  of  the  Ref- 
ormation.     By  HENRY  EYSTER  JACOBS,  D.D.,  LL.D. 
With  73  Illustrations.     12°          .         .         .         .  $1.50 

"  The  initial  volume  of  the  Heroes  of  the  Reformation  Series  is  a  worthy  in- 
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to  a  most  important  epoch  of  history.  .  .  .  Professor  Jacobs  is  an  exception- 
ally sympathetic  and  competent  biographer.  .  .  .  The  author  has  availed 
himself  of  all  the  latest  sources  of  information,  and  done  the  needful  work  of 
selection  and  condensation  with  excellent  judgment  and  skill."  —  Christian 
Intelligencer. 

II.  — PHILIP  MELANCHTHON  (1497-1560).  The  Prot- 
estant Preceptor  of  Germany.  By  JAMES  WILLIAM  RICHARD, 
D.D.  With  35  Illustrations.  12°  .  .  .  $1.50 

"  This  work  will  be  valued  by  the  general  reader  who  likes  a  well-told  biog- 
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and  by  the  wise  teacher  of  the  young  who  desires  his  pupils  to  read  that  which 
will  at  once  instruct  and  inspire  them  with  respect  for  what  is  great  and  honor- 
able. For  these  purposes,  I  believe  no  other  work  on  Melanchthon  can  compare 
with  this  one." — Universalist  Leader. 

I  1  i  DESIDERIUS  ERASMUS  (1467-1536).  The  Hu- 
manist in  the  Service  of  the  Reformation.  By  EPHRAIM 
EMERTON,  PH.D.  With  36  Illustrations.  12°.  .  $1.50 

"  Professor  Emerton  has  done  a  thorough  and  skilful  piece  of  work.  .  .  . 
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which  contains  all  which  most  readers  care  to  know,  and  in  a  manner  which 
they  will  find  acceptable.  The  book  is  a  valuable  addition  to  the  series." — 
Congregationalist. 

IV. —  THEODORE  BEZA  (1549-1605).  The  Counsellor  of 
the  French  Reformation.  By  HENRY  MARTYN  BAIRD,  Ph.D. 
With  24  Illustrations.  12° $1.50 

"  No  one  could  so  well  present  the  life  of  Beza  in  its  true  relations  and  in  so 

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pathy with  the  hero,  and  accoidingly  has  produced  a  book  of  special  interest  and 
value." — Christian  Intelligencer. 

V.— HULDREICH  ZWINGLI  (1484-1531).  The  Reformer 
of  German  Switzerland.  By  SAMUEL  MACAULEY  JACKSON, 
LL.D.  With  30  Illustrations,  a  Special  Map,  Battle  Plan,  and 

a  Facsimile  Letter.     12" $2.00 

"  It  is  notable  as  the  first  adequate  life  of  Zwingli  by  an  English-speaking 
author  .  .  .  portrays  the  man,  the  accomplished  scholar,  social  reformer,  ardent 
patriot,  the  theologian,  so  far  in  advance  of  his  time  as  to  stand  alone  in  the  faith 
that  all  infants  would  be  saved.  But  Professor  Jackson  is  no  eulogist  and 
exhibits  the  defects  of  Zwingli  with  unsparing  hand,  —  defects  which  appear  due 
to  his  time  and  circumstances,  and  far  less  serious  in  our  judgment  than  some 
which  lie  at  the  door  of  those  whose  fame  has  overshadowed  his."  —  The 
Outlook. 

Send  for  complete  descriptive  circular 
NEW  YORK Q.  P.   PUTNAM'S  SONS LONDON 


HEROES  OF  THE  REFORMATION 


VI.— THOMAS  CRANMER  and  the  English  Reformation. 
1489-1556.  By  ALBERT  FREDERICK  POLLARD,  M.A.,  F.R.H.S. 
With  21  Illustrations.  Crown  Octavo.  (By  mail,  $1.50.) 
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"  The  work  is  accurate,  scholarly,  and  free  from  partisan  bias  ...  a  rare 
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are  recorded  with  fairness  and  accuracy." — The  Lutheran. 

VII.— JOHN  KNOX  the  Hero  of  the  Scottish  Reformation. 
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With  28  Illustrations  and  2  Facsimile  Letters.     Crown  Octavo. 
(By  mail,  $1.50.)     Net  .         .  .        .        fl      ,,    $1.35 

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authorities,  and  keeps  fully  in  view  the  claims  of  the  serious  student  who  wishes 
to  remain  in  touch  with  them  at  every  point." — Glasgow  Herald. 

VIII.  -  BALTHASAR  HUBMAIER  the  Leader  of  the  Ana- 
baptists. By  HENRY  C.  VEDDER,  Professor  of  Church  History 
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Hiibmaier  and  his  times  and,  in  order  to  better  fit  himself  for  present- 
ing Hlibmaier's  life,  made  a  special  journey  to  the  country  in  which 
Hiibmaier  lived  and  died.  The  result  is  a  faithful  and  spirited 
presentation  of  the  facts  of  Hlibmaier's  life  and  an  exceptionally  able 
presentation  of  his  teachings.  We  have  in  this  book  numerous  well- 
chosen  excerpts  from  Hlibmaier's  writings,  translated  into  graceful 
English,  thus  enabling  the  reader  to  form  his  own  conclusions  as  to 
Hubmaier's  ability. 

IX. — JOHN  CALVIN,  the  Organizer  of  Reformed  Protestant- 
ism, 1509^1564.  By  WILLISTON  WALKER,  Titus  Stout  Pro- 
fessor of  Ecclesiastical  History  in  Yale  University.  With  20 
illustrations.  Crown  Octavo.  (By  mail,  $1.50.)  Net,  $1.35. 

This  work,  based  upon  all  the  known  facts  of  Calvin's  life,  includ- 
ing those  recorded  in  recently  discovered  documents,  is  a  scholarly 
and  authoritative  biography.  The  illustrations  have  been  collected 
with  great  care,  and  give  the  geographical  setting  in  which  Calvin's 
life  was  passed. 

For  list  of  volumes  in  preparation  see  separate  circular 


HEROES  OF  THE  NATIONS 


NELSON. 


By  W.  Clark  Russell. 

By  C. 


GUSTAVUS  ADOLPHUS. 
R.  L.  Fletcher. 

PERICLES.     By  Evelyn  Abbott. 

THEODORIC  THE  GOTH.  By 
Thomas  Hodgkin. 

SIR  PHILIP  SIDNEY.  By  H.  R. 
Fox-Bourne. 

JULIUS  CAESAR.  By  W.  Warde 
Fowler. 

WYCLIF.     By  Lewis  Sergeant. 

NAPOLEON.     By    W.    O'Connor 

Morris. 
HENRY  OF  NAVARRE.     By  P. 

F.  Willert. 

CICERO.  By  J.  L.  Strachan- 
Davidson. 

ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  By  Noah 
Brooks. 

PRINCE  HENRY  (OF  PORTU- 
GAL) THE  NAVIGATOR. 
By  C.  R.  Beazley. 

JULIAN  THE  PHILOSOPHER. 
By  Alice  Gardner. 

LOUIS  XIV.     By  Arthur  Hassall. 

CHARLES  XII.  By  R.  Nisbet 
Bain. 

LORENZO  DE'  MEDICI.  By  Ed- 
ward Armstrong. 

JEANNE  D'ARC.  By  Mrs.  Oli- 
phant. 

CHRISTOPHER  COLUMBUS.  By 
Washington  Irving' 

ROBERT  THE  BRUCE.  By  Sir 
Herbert  Maxwell. 

HANNIBAL.     By     W.     O'Connor 

Morris. 
ULYSSES  S.  GRANT.     By  William 

Conant  Church. 


ROBERT    E.     LEE. 
Alexander  White. 

THE  CID  CAMPEADOR. 
Butler  Clarke. 

SALADIN.       By     Stanley 
Poole. 

BISMARCK.       By   J.    W. 

lam. 


By    Henrj 
By  H. 

Lane- 
Head- 
By 


By 

By  James  B.   Per- 


ALEXANDER  THE  GREAT. 
Benjamin  I.  Wheeler. 

CHARLEMAGNE.     By  H.  W.  C. 
Davis. 

OLIVER         CROMWELL. 

Charles  Firth. 

RICHELIEU. 

kins. 

DANIEL  O'CONNELL.     By  Rob- 
ert  Dunlop. 

SAINT     LOUIS     (Louis     IX.     of 
France).     By  Frederick  Perry. 

LORD   CHATHAM.     By   Walford 
Davis  Green. 

OWEN   GLYNDWR.     By   Arthur 
G.  Bradley.     $1.35  net. 

HENRY  V.     By  Charles  L.  Kings- 
ford.     $1.35  net. 

EDWARD  I.     By  Edward  Jenks. 

$1.35  net. 
AUGUSTUS    CJESAR.      By  J.  B. 

Firth.     $1.35  net. 

FREDERICK  THE  GREAT.    By 

W.  F.  Reddaway. 
WELLINGTON.     By  W.  O'Connor 

Morris 
CONSTANTINE  THE  GREAT.  By 

J.  B.  Firth. 
MOHAMMED.   D.  S.  Margoliouth. 


Other  volumes  in  preparation  are: 


MOLTKE.     By  Spencer  Wilkinson. 

JUDAS  MACCABEUS.     By  Israel 
Abrahams. 

SOBIESKI.     By  F.  A.  Pollard. 

ALFRED  THE  TRUTHTELLER. 
By  Frederick  Perry. 


FREDERICK 

Smith. 


II.       By     A.     L. 


MARLBOROUGH.      By  C.  W.  C. 

Oman. 
RICHARD  THE  LION-HEARTED 

By  T.  A.  Archer. 
WILLIAM    THE    SILENT.       By 

Ruth  Putnam. 

CHARLES     THE     BOLD.         By 

Ruth  Putnam. 
GREGORY  VII.     By  F.  Urquhart, 


New  York— G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS,  PUBLISHERS— London 


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